Raven's Bloody Christmas
by cheri1
Summary: 10th Doctor.Set after Planet of the Dead. The Doctor finds himself in Detroit during the Christmas season and soon he and a young girl named Raven find themselves battling a nest of vampires.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"Go on, get outta here!"

The man glared at the shop owner as he pushed him out of his store.

"Bastard, I only wanted to use the john," he muttered to himself as he staggered out onto the pavement.

Carl Stone rested a moment in a nearby bus shelter. He'd been homeless for awhile now after losing his job at General Motors when it went bankrupt. He had lived in Detroit his whole life, forty six years and he had always managed to provide for himself and his family, when he had one. Now his life was slowly spiraling down into a seemingly endless cycle of homeless shelters, bread lines and annoyed store clerks and police officers who seemed to think he was little more than an annoying flea instead of the human being he was. His clothes were disheveled, old, gathered together from those he had received from churches and clothing banks. His dark colored face was lined and his short afro was beginning to show signs of white midst the black. It was nearly December now and he wore a threadbare coat, old gloves and a hat but it didn't do much to keep away the chill. He was down on Woodward Avenue, trying to sneak into one of the shops in order to use the restroom but the irate store owner caught him and after informing him the bathroom was only for customers, walked him to the door. Carl cursed at him under his breath.

"Son of a bitch, have a fucking heart, will ya? It's almost Christmas," he muttered to himself as he got up and walked on. As he walked, he occasionally asked people for spare change but only received a few dollars for his troubles. Most people glared at him or muttered under their breath that he should go get a job so he finally gave up and headed towards McDonalds to use the money for a cup of coffee to warm himself up. As he walked along the pavement, others tried to hustle him for money and he was forced to mutter to them that he was also homeless so they'd leave him alone.

Then, as he neared the McDonalds, he noticed a beautiful young woman sitting outside at one of the stone tables that people usually used during the warmer months. He noticed that the woman was dressed elegantly in a black party dress and nice black coat with black court shoes on. Her long brown hair was swept up into a bun and her alabaster skin was the palest he had ever seen. He stopped short, staring at this woman, not only because she looked like she was dressed for a formal party but also because it was only forty degrees out and she wasn't even shivering while he was freezing his ass off under layers of clothing. Looking at her, he suddenly felt aroused. He hadn't been with a woman in a long time and she was gorgeous. He wondered if she would consider sleeping with him. He didn't have a hotel room but he did have friends who had an apartment and a spare room. He had slept with them from time to time when they were in a good enough mood to let him stay and he was sure if this woman accepted his offer and he asked his friends nicely…

As he approached, the woman looked his way and studied him quietly. Usually, women would be repulsed at his haggard appearance but to his delight, she actually looked interested in him. Spurred on by that, he approached her with a huge smile on his face.

"Now what's a pretty girl like you doing out here in the cold," he said, walking up to her. "Dontcha wanna be inside where it's warm?"

He was even more thrilled when rather than telling him to piss off, the woman smiled sweetly at him.

"I am used to the cold," she said with a heavy Russian accent. "Especially during the wintertime. However, if you wish to go inside with me, perhaps I could buy you something to eat?"

"For real?" Carl said, hardly daring to believe his luck.

"Of course, I am bored and looking for company and you look like you are hungry. I will buy the food, of course. How about it?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said happily.

She smiled.

"I am Elena and you are…"

"Carl."

She extended her hand and Carl shook it.

"Nice to meet you, Carl, come inside with me and warm up," she said.

Carl nodded and followed her inside the restaurant.

* * *

Meanwhile down the street, the TARDIS materialized in an alley and after a moment, the Doctor stepped out and looked around before closing the door. He had set the controls to random, letting the TARDIS take him someplace mysterious for the day. He noticed straight away that there were Christmas decorations hanging on the streetlamps as well as it being bitterly cold and his hearts warmed as he looked forward to a bit of Christmas cheer. After what he had just heard from Carmen about his song ending and someone knocking four times, he felt like he could use it. He hadn't given much thought to Ood Sigma when he told him his song was ending, just chalked it up to some folksy Ood saying but hearing Carmen say it again along with telling him that someone was returning who would knock four times made him uneasy, especially since knocking brought back unsettling memories of the creature that inhabited Sky on Midnight.

But he quickly pushed all that out of his mind as he strolled along the pavement, looking at the Christmas decorations. Whatever Carmen meant, it was in the future so therefore he'd think about later after he had some fun exploring.

As he walked along, he noticed Comerica Park with the large Tiger statue out in front of the front gates.

"Aha, Detroit, the Motor City," the Doctor said to himself. "Let's see what it has to offer for the Christmas season."

He left downtown and walked down Woodward Avenue towards midtown. When he reached midtown, he slowed his pace and looked around at the different shops.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

The Doctor jerked his head off to his left and saw a young woman screaming at a grizzled old man as he tried to grab at her. Without a thought, he sprinted across the street towards her, nearly getting hit by cars in the process.

"Oi! Leave her alone!" theDoctor said, running up to the man and getting in between him and woman.

"This doesn't concern you, buddy!" the man snarled at him.

"It concerns me if the woman told you to leave her alone and you aren't listening!" the Doctor said angrily.

Several passerby and the woman gasped when the man pulled out a small blade and began to menace him with it.

"That would be very unwise on your part, trust me," the Doctor growled at him.

He looked at the man; he was a Caucasian man in his late fifties, disheveled with dirty, matted brown hair and a full beard that had flecks of white in it. The man was bleary eyed and he reeked of alcohol. A few other men from the crowd that gathered were trying to calm him down and talk him out of stabbing the Doctor but he didn't listen to him. The Doctor eyed him as he tensed his body, timing his moves just right and then when the man tried to thrust the blade at his chest, he lunged forward, grabbed it and jerked his wrist hard causing him to drop it. Then he gave him a hard kick to the chest, sending him to the ground as he swooped down and grabbed the blade. The man staggered to his feet and was about to attack the Doctor again when he noticed a police car was coming towards him. Pushing some people out of the way, he ran off as fast as he could while the Doctor threw the blade away in a nearby trash can. He turned to the woman who was standing four feet behind him. She was Caucasian, in her early twenties with long black hair that peeked out from under her white knitted hat. She was wearing a jet black jacket and purple fuzzy gloves with a white stripe running through the middle of them. She had on tan slacks and battered red and white Converses.

"Are you alright?" the Doctor asked her.

"Yeah, just some drunken, horny creep that thought I'd put out for him. That's why he wouldn't leave me alone. Thanks for helping me."

"Not at all, always happy to help. I'm the Doctor, what's your name?"

"I'm Raven and it's a good thing you are a doctor cause you nearly got stabbed."

"Nah, I could see him coming a mile away. I was never in any danger," the Doctor said dismissively.

"Well, thanks again," Raven said as she started to walk away.

"Wait," the Doctor said, holding out his hand. "I'm new in town and I would love a guide. Would you mind showing me Detroit?"

"Well, I…uh…"

"I mean, you don't have to, it's just an offer," the Doctor said.

"Well, I can show you what I know. I've only been here for about six months."

"Well, I've been here for a lot less than that. So, would you?"

Raven smiled and shrugged.

"Sure. Why not? I've got nothing else to do today," she said.

"Splendid. But first, why don't we find somewhere to sit and relax and chat over some tea or coffee or hot chocolate."

Raven shifted uncomfortably.

"I…uh…don't have any money," she muttered.

"Well, let me see, I might have some," the Doctor said, rooting around in his trouser pocket. "I usually carry some money on my person."

"Yeah, well, don't say that too loudly or you'll end up fighting off another knife wielding attacker," Raven replied.

"Aha!" The Doctor said, pulling out a couple of ten dollar bills. "I believe these will do the trick. Now…do you know the nearest place where we can get some food?"

"There's a McDonalds just up the street."

"Splendid, then come with me and we'll get acquainted with one another."

He held out his hand and noticed her hesitation.

"I won't hurt you, Raven. Unlike the other bloke, I'm not trying to ask you for sex. I really am just a tourist who wants to see the city. Please trust me."

Raven looked at his eyes and something about him told her he was telling the truth. She smiled and nodded and took his hand. The Doctor grinned at that and followed her as she led him towards the McDonalds.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The Doctor opened the door to the McDonald's and let Raven go inside before he followed her.

"I feel a bit peckish as well, how 'bout you?" he said to her.

He smiled when he saw the confusion on her face.

"I'm hungry, are you?" he said.

"Oh! Yes but you don't have to get me anything," Raven said.

"Nonsense, my treat," he said as they got in the queue.

He ordered some coffee and an egg McMuffin and hash brown. Raven ordered a large Coke, sausage McMuffin with egg and a hash brown. After the Doctor paid for it and they received their food, they walked over to a booth by the window and sat down opposite each other.

"Thank you so much for this," Raven said.

"Aw, it's nothing. Just consider it payment for your tour guide services this afternoon," he said, shrugging off his coat.

He noticed Raven was still wearing her heavy jacket.

"Why don't you take your coat off, you might be more comfortable since it's quite warm in here," the Doctor suggested.

He frowned when he noticed her hesitation and then watched while she unzipped the top, grabbed something inside and stuffed it down her sweater before she took her coat off.

"May I ask what you were hiding before you took your coat off?" the Doctor said when she took it off and laid it beside her.

"Well, um…are you open-minded?" Raven said hesitantly.

"I like to think I am, why?"

She sighed, reached down inside her lavender sweater and pulled out a pentacle necklace.

"I'm a wiccan," she said.

"Oh…okay," the Doctor said, shrugging.

"That doesn't freak you out?" she said, putting the necklace back inside her sweater.

"No, should it? Do you use black magic?"

"No, I'm strictly a white magic witch."

"Then, I'm fine with it," the Doctor said, shrugging, as he picked up his coffee.

"Sorry for all the secrecy, it's just that not everyone is accepting of my religion, especially a lot of the conservative Christians so I try not to advertise it so I don't get harassed. But I'm not evil. I won't cast a spell on you or turn you into a toad or anything like that, so don't worry."

The Doctor smiled.

"Trust me; I've met all sorts and your being a Wiccan does not upset me in the least. I believe in live and let live for the most part, unless someone is infringing on someone else's rights, then I have a problem."

"So do I. And I'm very tolerant of people so I don't mind if you're a Christian or anything like that."

"Actually, I'm not but I'm glad you are tolerant of others. I like that in people. I hate narrow-mindedness."

"So do I," Raven said, nodding, before taking a sip of Coke.

"So…how long have you lived in Detroit?" the Doctor said.

"About six months."

"Oh, well, you're a newbie like I am," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, but I do know my way around for the most part. I walk a lot."

"So do I. I have transportation but I prefer to get out and walk around and see what's around me."

"Yeah but you gotta be careful here because someone's liable to jump you and mug you. Especially with the way you're dressed."

"Really? How am I dressed?"

"Like you're a businessman that has money," Raven said.

He chuckled.

"I don't have that much money on me and besides I think I can handle myself. What about you though? Are you by yourself?"

She nodded.

"Aren't you worried about getting jumped and mugged then?"

"Nah, I've been through so much in my life, I'm not afraid to die anymore," Raven said.

"That rough a life?"

"It has its moments," Raven said, shrugging.

"Yeah, I understand that sentiment," the Doctor said.

He took a sip of coffee.

"So…where are you from then, originally?"

"Indiana."

"Mmm, what brings you to Detroit then?"

"Well…I'm…traveling."

The Doctor perked up at that.

"Really? Where are you traveling to?" he said.

"Wherever the wind takes me."

"Really? Me too. I travel all the time and go hither and thither without a thought for what tomorrow might bring," he said.

"Oh really? Where'd you come from then? I'm guessing England?"

"Maybe," the Doctor said with an impish grin.

"Why are you over here then?" Raven asked.

"Bored, curious, eager to see the sights and live life."

Raven cocked an eyebrow.

"Okay, you just told me about five minutes ago you don't carry much money on you. How do you travel hither and thither then?"

"I told you, I have my own transportation."

"Yeah and that takes gas, right?"

"Nope."

"No, what is it, a horse?" Raven said.

"No, it's a self-contained vehicle. Very unique."

"What? Did you build it?"

"Uh no, I borrowed it," the Doctor said.

"In other words, you stole it, right?"

She laughed when the Doctor looked up at the ceiling and whistled for a moment before winking at her.

"Let's just call it borrowing, shall we?" he said in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Okay, if you want to," Raven whispered back.

"So, what about you? What are you using for transportation?" he asked as he picked up his coffee cup.

"My feet."

"No, I mean, how did you get here from Indiana."

"My feet, other people's cars and the bus."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"You walked and thumbed a ride from people? On your own?"

Raven shrugged.

"I'm all I got," she said.

"What about your family?" the Doctor said concerned.

Raven snorted.

"They don't care about me. They want nothing to do with me."

"Why?"

Raven lowered her eyes to the table.

"Because for most of my life, I was a doormat and did what they wanted me to do and when I finally stood up for myself and decided to follow my heart, they didn't like it and stopped speaking to me. Not to mention I got in a few arguments also. My family has anger issues and their solution to confrontation is to ignore someone and never speak to them again."

"And they don't care that you're on your own, all alone here?"

Raven shook her head.

"I've tried calling and writing to them but they hang up or they won't answer my letters so I just decided to hell with them. I don't wanna live with the anger so I forgave them for their behavior and forgave myself and just forged on ahead."

"So you've become a wanderer."

"For the most part, yeah."

The Doctor sensed that Raven wasn't telling him the whole truth. He could see she was holding something back from him. He took a sip of coffee and thought of a way to get her to open up to him.

"You know," he said, watching her closely, "I might be able to help you talk to your family and perhaps I can convince them to sit down with you and talk things out. Do you have a phone where you're staying so I can speak with them."

His instincts were spot on when he notice the uneasiness increase. He sat back and raised his eyebrow.

"You don't have a home, do you," he said to her. "Not a true home. That's why you didn't have money to pay for breakfast."

He saw the fear in her eyes.

"Thanks for the meal," she said as she started to get up.

"No, wait," the Doctor said, quickly getting up and grabbing her arm.

"Look, I shouldn't have accepted this food. It wasn't fair for you to pay for a meal for me."

"But I want to, Raven," the Doctor said. "I don't care that you're homeless just like I don't care you're a Wiccan. I do care that you're out on the streets without any protection or someone to turn to. Just sit back down, please."

He sat back down once she did.

"I'm sorry, it's just that whenever some people hear I'm homeless, they tend to start looking down on me like I'm nothing," she said to him.

"Well, I'm not one of those people," the Doctor said. "There's no shame in being homeless. I'm homeless myself in a technical sense."

"You don't have a home or family?"

"Not anymore, no," the Doctor said. "So I know what it's like being all alone and by yourself with no one to turn to. I'm not going to ridicule you, Raven, and I don't think you're less than nothing just because you don't have a proper home. I would like to get to know you better though and perhaps if you're willing, we can still have that little tour. I can pay you for your time."

"No, please, I don't accept handouts if I can help it. I try not to panhandle or beg for money. I consider it beneath me."

The Doctor smiled.

"Then can you think of it as a fee for showing me around, sort of a little extra along with the meal," he said to her.

Raven thought for a moment and then nodded.

"And don't worry about being yourself in front of me. I'm not a judgmental person so if please don't feel uncomfortable or feel I'm looking down on you. I have no right to do that anyway."

"Thank you," Raven said humbly.

He took her hand and gave it a squeeze before the two of them finished their meal in a companionable silence.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

After eating, the Doctor and Raven put their coats back on and walked back outside.

"So, which way should we go?" the Doctor said, looking around.

"Well, to our left is Wayne State University. To the right is downtown. Back behind us is skid row and in front of us is the riverfront," Raven said.

"Hmmm, how 'bout we head downtown for starters," the Doctor replied.

"Fine by me," Raven said.

He smiled as the two of them walked off.

"So, how long have you been homeless?" the Doctor asked as they walked.

"About five years."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty Five."

"How did you become homeless, if you don't mind my asking."

"Well, I took care of my sick mother until I was nineteen. She was very clingy and basically kept me with her because she was afraid of being alone and because she didn't think I could make it on my own. She also had a so-called family friend that lived with us that abused us mentally and emotionally and made our lives hell but my mom kept her with us and let her live with us because of that fear of being alone and because she took pity on her because this woman didn't have any friends and had been abused her whole life and needed someone. The problem was she took advantage of my mom and treated her like dirt and stole from her so the moment my mom died, I kicked her out of the house."

"Good," the Doctor said, nodding.

"After that, I basically struggled to make ends meet and survive on nothing but donations from family and friends and my food stamps. But I couldn't find any work and I had basically moved to an apartment and was about to be kicked out of it when this old friend from Arkansas that I hadn't seen in six years called me and asked me if I'd like to come live with them. I didn't think I had any options so I agreed to go. So I sold half my stuff and when she and her mother came down to get me, I loaded up the other half and went back with her. Well, little did I know that in the six years, she had gotten married to an abusive husband who made her life hell and was trying to get a divorce from him and she was angry and bitter. She had a three year old son and she constantly yelled at him and ignored him because she had to work double shifts and didn't have the time to care for him. She lived with her mother and her mother was the same way, angry and bitter and treated her and me like dirt."

The Doctor grimaced at that but said nothing.

"The house was also a complete pit. It was a tiny trailer and there were literally mountains of their stuff just piled up in corners that they hadn't sorted through yet. There was stuff all over the floors, mice and cockroaches everywhere and they had a large dog that my friend wouldn't tie up in the backyard and it was untrained so it'd go through the house ripping up stuff and peeing and pooping all over the floor.

"Ugh!" the Doctor said.

"Yeah. I was shocked because I had just come to a point where I'd made peace with what happened in my life and forgave everyone and myself and had found inner peace and then I come into the middle of all this and realized what a mistake I made so I got a job as a nurse's aide and secretly went looking for an apartment of my own because they also started being nasty to me and verbally abusing me and treating me like dirt. I got my first paycheck and paid fifteen dollars for an application fee to this apartment near the nursing home I worked at and got something to eat and had sixty dollars left since I'd only worked four days. But the moment they found out I had money and that I was gonna leave them. They suddenly demanded I pay them rent with it and when I refused and argued with them, they threw me and my stuff out at eleven o'clock at night and slammed the door on me."

"And you didn't know anyone there, right?" the Doctor said.

"Right and it was about to rain, so I tried to cover my stuff as best I could with my blankets and headed down to a shopping mall and I called my father from there who was in Valdosta, Georgia to see if he would drive up and come get me. He said he would at first and then changed his mind and tried calling my friend to come and get me so he could call me back and my friend told me no she wouldn't and hung up on him."

The Doctor snorted.

"Some friend," he said.

"Yeah, tell me about it. My dad had to call the police to come and find me and I didn't know he'd done that so it was sort of a shock when a cop car pulled up and the cop called me by name."

The Doctor grinned and nodded.

"I called my dad back and he told me I could come and stay with him and he'd give me the bus fare to get down there. So I spent the night at a Salvation Army and the next morning I left with clothes on my back and my wallet with my ID and stuff and went to Georgia. I then tried to get my stuff back from my friend and her mother and they wouldn't send me even the basics until I paid them and I didn't have the money because I found out that when I wasn't looking they went and stole what money I had left. So without any money, I just forgot about the stuff I had and my dad helped me get some new clothes. And I tried to look for work there but couldn't find any and my dad couldn't support me so he told me he'd pay for me to go on the bus to anywhere I wanted to go and I could live in a homeless shelter while I tried to look for work."

"And he was fine with you doing that? Living in a shelter?" the Doctor said, shocked.

"Well, tell you the truth, he wasn't much of a father to me growing up. He was never really there for me and my brothers and was kinda indifferent. As long as I didn't bother him, he didn't care what I did."

"So where did you go then?"

Raven grinned.

"LA."

"Did you know anyone in LA?"

"No."

The Doctor's eyes widened while she giggled.

"You just decided you'd like to go there," he said.

"Yeah, I'd always wanted to go out west and here was my chance. So my dad got me a couple of suitcases and I hopped on the Greyhound bus and went out west."

"You're a girl after my own heart," the Doctor said. "Weren't you scared though?"

"A little but…there was something inside me that told me I'd be alright. I've always felt that God was looking out for me and leading me towards something greater, you know."

The Doctor nodded.

"So you got out to LA and then what?"

"Well, I tried contacting a friend who was in Victorville which is about ninety miles northeast of LA and told her I was there. Mind you, this was a woman I met on Myspace and we were just friend but I didn't really know her that well. But she had no way to help me other than look up the names of some shelters near me so after getting the address of a shelter, I went out, caught a bus and went further downtown and after walking around, pulling my suitcase behind me, I finally found it and spent the night sleeping in an old bed. And the next few days I spent in this day shelter in the worst part of LA you can imagine."

"And were you scared at that point?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I figure if something's going to happen, it'll happen. I did learn really quick that it's a huge mistake to be homeless and lug around two suitcases so I eventually got rid of them. But after spending a few days in LA, I couldn't find anything, any jobs because there was nothing around me and I begged my dad to give me some bus fare to go up to Victorville and he grudgingly gave it to me and I went there to this shelter my friend knew about. Well, I could only stay there for three days unless I found a job but I arrived there in the afternoon and they counted that as one day, so I really had two days to find a job."

The Doctor shook his head at that.

"Well, obviously I couldn't find anything in two days time so the night I was supposed to get kicked out, my aunt finally found me and asked me to come back home. I shoulda stayed there, something told me that I needed to stay in California but I was tired and didn't have any options so I agreed so I went back on the bus to Indiana and stayed in Muncie with my pot smoking brother for two months, which was all his landlord would allow me to stay. Tried to find work there and couldn't and had to leave and go to a YWCA and now I was basically stuck. There's no bus station in Muncie and no work for me and I felt trapped and no one would help so one night I just walked out of Muncie."

She laughed when the Doctor gave her a shocked look.

"You're a determined little woman," he said as she laughed harder.

"Well, I have psychic dreams and I keep thinking there's something out there better for me and that I'm being led to it and that I have a great destiny and I'm not gonna let anything stand in my way of it."

"Good for you," the Doctor said. "So you walked out of the city and…"

"Hitched a ride with someone to the next town and from there I kept on hitching rides until I was almost to Indianapolis and then I stayed with a friend for two days who paid for me to go up north to this shelter someone told me about. I took the bus up there to Elkhart, another city I'd never been to and tried to stay at this shelter but it was a very strict Christian shelter and you basically had only a few hours a day to go out and you had to work for free at their thrift store for three days and if you did a good job, then you could go find work, otherwise you had to stay there and work for them for nothing. Not to mention they really didn't have a room for me so I had to sleep on a mat on the floor in their living room. I tried working at the thrift store and hated it since I felt like they were taking advantage of homeless people and getting free slave labor for their shop so the next day I decided to start walking and head towards South Bend which is about…maybe twelve miles from them. So I started out at 9 am and walked all day, taking breaks and sitting in restaurants and shops until I reached this Village Panty outside South Bend at about two in the morning and then a cop found me and took me to this homeless shelter."

"Wait, are you telling me that you walked nearly twelve miles in a day?" the Doctor said.

"Yeah. And once again, that inner guide led me there because I'd never been to any of those cities and yet somehow I ended up going in the right direction and when the cop found me I was on the outskirts of South Bend which proved to me that God was helping me and leading me along."

The Doctor nodded, filled with new admiration for Raven.

"So I stayed at this homeless shelter for about eight months. But I couldn't look for work right away because you have to go through their programs. You had to take self esteem classes for fifteen weeks and then looking for a job class for fifteen weeks and if you passed both, THEN you could go look for work."

The Doctor rolled his eyes while she laughed.

"Well, I think it's because that's how they got their funding because everyone was required to take these classes unless you were on disability and couldn't work."

"And let me guess, once you were given permission to work, you couldn't find a job," the Doctor said.

"Nope. Part of the problem is not many people are able to find jobs nowadays and you have to compete with everyone else for what little jobs there are. And again it's because I think God was preventing me from doing that because I have a greater purpose than working at McDonalds," she said. But I did try and try to find work until I realized that I was basically beating a dead horse and that what God wanted me to do was trust him and let him lead me to wherever he wanted to take me. But to make a long story short, I basically left there with some money someone lent to me and went to Chicago on the train. Had never been to Chicago so I basically played tourist while I walked around and then ended up going fifty three blocks up north to Hyde Park and hanging around the University of Chicago for awhile. Then on Christmas eve, I did what I did in Elkhart, started out early and walked the fifty three blocks back to downtown."

She stopped when the Doctor did. The Doctor bent down and examined her legs.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm looking at your legs because with all this walking, I'm shocked you don't have muscles the size of baby elephants," he said as she laughed.

"Hey, gotta do what you gotta do," she said as they resumed walking. "I'm used to walking now. People are always so shocked that I walk that much but I can walk about seven or eight miles in a day and if I need to, even more than that. But you know, once upon a time back before they had cars, people used to walk those kinds of distances. It's because of cars that most people have gotten out of shape and can't do that now."

The Doctor nodded.

"I've done the same thing before but I have to say, listening to you, it just amazes me how nonchalantly you're talking about all this. You're telling me you used to be a doormat and I'm guessing you were a shy, timid girl once, yeah?"

"Oh yeah," Raven said, nodding.

"And here you are, out on the streets and yet, trusting that you'll be okay. I agree with you about people in the past walking long distances and that's true, but just the same, not many people have the guts to just walk out of a city with nothing to go on but faith that you're going towards something better. Or just start walking and hoping you'll land up at the correct destination. That's what amazing to me. You talk about all these courageous things you've done as if you're discussing the weather. I have met people in the past who were like you, but not many. So did you walk here to Detroit then?"

"Walked, hitched rides and snuck on the Greyhound buses at night and got rides that way."

"You sneak onto buses too?" the Doctor said, amused, as she laughed.

"Hey, gotta do what you gotta do," Raven said, shrugging. "I wanna travel. I got tired of Indiana. There's nothing there but cows and corn. Got the whole wide world to see, you know. I wanna travel the world someday."

"You know what? I think with your determination, you just might do that," the Doctor said. "So why are you still here then? Trying to look for work?"

"Not really. Detroit is one of the worst cities for unemployment. They're higher than the national average and most people have given up looking for work. Here in the metro area, there's nothing."

"But is there a Greyhound Bus station?" the Doctor said.

"Yeah."

"Why haven't you snuck onto a bus then and gone on?"

"Got caught doing it when the bus I snuck on went over to Canada," she said, pointing off to her left.

"Oho, you got caught at customs?"

"Yup, actually that wasn't the first time. I used the buses and went up through Ohio to Buffalo, New York where they have a bridge to Canada like they do here. And one night I decided, to hell with the US, I'll go to Canada and explore it."

She laughed at the wide-eyed look on the Doctor's face.

"I like you, Raven, I just have to tell you that," he said while she snickered. "So you walked over this bridge into Canada?"

"Yeah and got stopped there because I have no money and no place to stay so they don't let homeless people just waltz into Canada. So when I came here, I ended up getting kicked out for the same reason. So little old me who'd never been out of the US has been kicked out of Canada twice in about two months."

The Doctor laughed at that.

"Aw, come on, Raven, mind like yours, you oughta be able to suss out a way to sneak in," he teased. "Don't let those Canadians stop you from being homeless in their country while you explore it. Thumb your nose at em!"

Raven laughed.

"Well, actually, I think the reason why I got caught is because I'm meant to be here right now because something better is coming for me and I have to wait for it."

The Doctor smiled warmly at that and nodded.

"So where are you staying while you wait?" he asked.

"The Salvation Army."

"Ah, so how is like at the Sally Ann then?" he said.

"Um…not bad. They have rooms that house about five or six people instead of just one big room filled with bunk beds so I have four roommates and for the most part I get along with them. The problem is I recently became a Wiccan and they're all Christians."

"So you have to hide your beliefs?"

"Yeah, except they found out anyway and they don't say much about it to me. One woman does kinda believe in the whole stereotype of wearing the pointy hats and flying around on the broomsticks and one of my roommates is a born again evangelical Christian who blasts her religious music ten hours out of the day and night, whether we want to hear it or not."

"Ugh," the Doctor said, making a face.

"Yeah, she's nice but she's a tad bit obsessive with her church music," Raven said while he snickered. "So at the moment, I'm just learning and studying how to be a wiccan since I don't have the money for the chalice and athame and candles and everything else you need to do spells and such."

"So what led you to become a Wiccan then?"

"Lot of soul searching and deciding on what I believed and finding something that would fit. I was raised Christian but I don't believe in hell or Satan and I believe in reincarnation so basically I've studied up on about every religion out there and Wicca came the closest to what I believe. And like I said, I'm very open-minded and tolerant and wiccans believe in that too. We believe that everyone has a right to follow their heart and pursue their own spiritual path in life and I believe that everyone is on a different spiritual path so I think it's unethical to do witnessing like Christians do because you're trying to push your belief system onto other people as if your way is the correct way and you know what's best for everyone else, which to me, is arrogant."

The Doctor nodded, liking Raven more and more with each passing moment.

"So what about you? I've told you my story. How'd you become homeless?" Raven asked him.

The Doctor debated whether or not to tell her the truth. But then he decided that Raven had been honest with him and she was open-minded and wouldn't freak out if he told her.

"Raven, do you believe in aliens?" he asked her.

"Oh yeah, I mean the people who think we're the only life in the universe when there are trillions of planets out there, it's crazy. Plus, I was around for the Dalek and Cybermen attacks a few years ago so that definitely proved to me we're not alone."

"Do you believe that there are friendly aliens though?"

"I think so. I hope so. I'd hate to think every alien in the universe hated our guts. Why?"

"Because I'm a friendly alien."

They stopped and Raven gave him an odd look.

"What?" she said.

"It's true. I'm an alien."

She raised her eyebrow.

"You look human enough."

"Well, that's because some aliens do look humanoid."

"Got proof?"

"Oho, Miss Take Everything on Faith, now you wanna play skeptic, eh?" he said while she laughed.

"No, I just wanna be sure you're not a weirdo like some of the men I've met around here."

"Well…I am a weirdo but in a fun way," he said. "As for proof, I have two hearts and I have a stethoscope if you care to have a listen."

Raven looked around. They were in the middle of downtown Detroit and people were out and walking around.

"Um…I think that would look a bit weird if I listened to your heartbeat right here in the middle of the sidewalk," she said.

"Well, do you have a place we could go where you could have a listen?"

Raven thought and smiled.

"Yeah, follow me, Space Man."

"Lead on, Gutsy Girl," the Doctor said.

Raven laughed and the Doctor patted her on the shoulder as she led him towards the waterfront.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"Here we are," Raven said as she and the Doctor walked into the GM building. "I know a nice spot where we can sit and you can show off your twin hearts to me."

As they walked into the lobby of the building, they passed two cars on either side of them. One was a brown Ford Explorer and the other was a red Camaro. As they went further into the lobby, the Doctor saw an empty reception desk that was in front of a huge green glass screen that had a bright light shining behind it. On the other side was a similar screen with several couches and a couple of glass tables in front of it.

"You want to sit there?" the Doctor said, pointing to the couches.

"We can. But I know a more comfortable spot up on the second floor."

"Lead on then," he said.

They walked through the lobby towards the escalator. They rode it up to the second floor, turned and walked up three steps to a circular pathway that wound around the interior of the circular building. Raven led him halfway around it to a pair of double glass doors and they went inside them. They walked down a narrow walkway to a circular floor that had several circular pods jutting out from it. In the pods were several comfortable couches and chairs. They walked over to one that had a black overstuffed leather couch and chair in it along with a wooden floor lamp and a glass coffee table. The Doctor sighed as he sank down in the overstuffed sofa.

"Ah, very nice," he said as Raven sat down beside him.

He looked out at the walkway. Several people were walking along it, chatting and laughing. Music came from down below and when he got up and bent over the waist high stone wall, he could see straight down to a showroom that had several more new cars on display along with a display case that had GM memorabilia in it. Several people were walking among the cars, looking at them and pointing while they talked about them. He looked at Raven.

"You come here often?" he said.

"Not as much as I used to. They don't mind you being here as long as you don't fall asleep in the chairs."

"Well, that could be hard considering how comfortable they are," the Doctor said, pushing down on the cushion. "Anyway, you wanted proof…"

He reached into his pocket and Raven was shocked when he pulled out his stethoscope.

"God, you have big pockets," she said.

"Yes, I do, very big pockets," he said, sitting back down.

He continued to look around while she put the earbuds in and listened to his hearts. Beyond the pod's entrance, there was a small bar that looked like it hadn't been open for business in awhile and a baby grand piano in a little alcove on the other side of the wall. Above it and winding around the central column were several paintings of people enjoying various aspects of Detroit life.

"Oh my God, you're not kidding. You do have two hearts."

He looked at Raven and nodded as he took the stethoscope back from her.

"Convinced I'm an alien?" he said.

"Either that or you're a really freakish human," she said. "Why are you in Detroit then? Are you trying to kidnap people for experiments."

"Now, now, you told me that people stereotype you as a pointy hat, broomstick flying witch, don't stereotype me as the evil alien who kidnaps people and rams things up their bum," he teased.

"Okay, point taken, but seriously, what brings you to Detroit?"

"Basically the same reason you came. I'm a traveler who's looking for adventure," he said, leaning back. "Ooo, blimey, this is comfortable. You ever fall asleep here?"

"Sometimes, it's kinda hard not to."

"I know," he said, snuggling up against the back cushion. "I feel like having a kip now actually and I wasn't even that tired when we sat down."

"So why are you homeless then? You don't have a spaceship?"

"I do but it's not a big, ruddy mothership that fills the sky like in Close Encounters. It's rather small actually and can fit almost everywhere. As to the reason I'm homeless…my planet was destroyed many years ago."

"Oh God," Raven said. "How?"

"There was a war and in order to defeat our enemies, I had to basically destroy them and my planet in the process."

"You did?"

He nodded sadly.

"I'm sorry. Geez, I thought I had it rough. So are there anymore like you?"

"Nope, I'm the last of my kind."

"God…so you just travel around then?"

"Well, that and I also help people along the way if they need it. I try to fight evil wherever I can find it."

"That's very noble of you. I'd like to do much the same someday and make a difference in the world."

He smiled at that.

"I came here randomly though. I do that from time to time. Just like you, I sometimes just leave it up to fate and go where the time winds take me. But I have the ability to go anywhere in time and space in my ship."

"Really? Awesome!"

He nodded.

"Yes, it is really cool. But sometimes it gets a bit lonely. Do you get lonely being on your own?"

"Sometimes but not often. I'm a loner really and I prefer being by myself."

He nodded.

"Yeah, same here although I do have friends with me from time to time to share my adventures but lately I haven't been doing that."

"Why not?" Raven asked.

He lowered his eyes.

"Because in the end, everyone leaves me or I lose them."

"I know how you feel. That's happened to me too," Raven said. "But I'm used to it by now. Like I said, I'm a loner anyway. I'd rather curl up with a good book on a Friday night than go to a party."

He grinned.

"You love to read?"

"Oh yeah, I read almost constantly."

"Me too. What sort of things do you read?"

"Mostly non-fiction history books."

"Oh, you love history?"

"Oh yeah, that and I love learning about other cultures."

"Me too. That's why I love to travel and meet others, see other worlds and civilizations."

"Must be nice to be able to do that," she said. "Was your planet beautiful?"

"It was gorgeous. Burnt orange sky, red grass and silver leaves on the trees."

"Ooo, that sounds wonderful," Raven said.

He nodded.

"So…your name is really Doctor then?" Raven asked.

"Well, it's not the name I was born with but it's what I chose to call myself."

"Well, actually, I'm the same way. Raven isn't my real name, it's my craft name. My real name is Louise but…after I started learning about Wicca and reading about choosing a craft name I decided to call myself that as a kind of symbolic way of leaving the past behind. But actually I use it just with myself. I still have to use Louise other places because I don't have the money to get my name changed legally and my roommates and everyone else call me Louise but I call myself Raven."

"Is that what you want me to call you then? "the Doctor said.

"If you want to."

"I'll call you whatever you feel comfortable with. Trust me, I understand your wanting to rechristen yourself and leave your past behind."

"I'd like it if you called me Raven."

"Okey-dokey, Raven it is then," the Doctor said while she laughed. "So is there anything else to do in here besides sit and sleep on the comfy chairs."

"Um, not without money," Raven said. "Although…"

"Yeah?" the Doctor said, leaning in while she giggled.

"Well, there is a movie theater above us and I have snuck into it on several occasions and watched movies."

"No!" the Doctor said, teasing, while Raven laughed. "You snuck into the movies without paying for it? That's not like you, Raven!"

"I know, it's so out of character for me, right?" she said while he snickered. "But hey, I gotta have some joy in my life from time to time, right?"

He nodded.

"So…did anyone see you?"

"I think a guy did one time. He called to me but I just ignored him and went right past into the theater and he never tried to look for me or stopped me."

"You have got guts, Raven," the Doctor said. "You just love risking arrest, don't you?"

She shrugged.

"Don't know if you've visited many homeless shelters, Doctor. But most of them make you feel like you are in prison anyway."

He gave her a sympathetic look.

"So what did you go see then when you were flaunting the rules of society?" he said.

"Um…the second Transformers movie, Public Enemies and the last half of Half Blood Prince," she said. "And there's four theaters up there. So when one movie ended, I'd walk out and go in another one and watch the rest of that movie. And usually, when the movie's ended, I waited till the people left and quickly went down the aisle and found popcorn bags and if the popcorn looked okay to me, I took it and had a snack."

The Doctor chuckled at that.

"You're a very clever young woman, Raven."

"Thanks, you learn a few things being out on the streets and you have to improvise from time to time. And hey, you gotta bend the rules sometimes in order to have some fun. Otherwise, you just spend all your time in the library on the internet."

He nodded.

"Other than the occasional sneaking in to places though. I am an honest person. I've never smoked, drank or did drugs. I just happened to listen to my asshole of a friend and got thrown out on my ear when I tried to leave their house."

He nodded.

"So what else have you done to survive and have a little joy and fun in your life?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, I know a way to get free Coke-a-cola. Wanna see?" Raven said.

"Sure, teach me how," the Doctor said while she giggled.

"Okay, in order to do that, we have to get out of here and go back downtown to Greektown Casino," she said.

"After you then," the Doctor said.

They stood up and the Doctor followed Raven as they walked out of the pod.

* * *

About fifteen minutes later, the Doctor and Raven were going through the doors of Greektown Casino. Directly inside was a security guard sitting at a podium watching everyone intently. She nodded hello to them as they passed by her.

"Okay, this way," she said to the Doctor as they walked towards the slot machine section.

The air was smoky and the room was noisy as dozens of people sat in front of electronic slot machines, staring at them intently while they played. Raven led the Doctor to the center of it to a beverage station. She took a paper cup and handed one to the Doctor.

"Coke, water," she said, pointing to it. "You just get what you want."

The Doctor grinned and both of them filled their cups up with Coke."

"Very clever," he said.

"Yup. Now if you're going to get some more after this, you walk around and drink while you pretend you're looking for a slot machine to play. That way security doesn't hassle you."

The Doctor snickered. He and Raven casually walked around sipping their Cokes while they walked into between the rows of slot machines.

"So do you do this often?" the Doctor asked her, pointing to his cup.

"I've just started. My roommate at the Salvation Army told me about it. There are three casinos in the city, this, Motor City and MGM Grand and they have beverage stations."

"Do you gamble while you're here?"

"I haven't but I know people who do. I never have the money and if I did have the money, I'd go buy something to eat or toiletries or something like that."

"How do you get along then without money?" the Doctor asked with curiosity.

"Well, I have a food stamp card. The government gives you two hundred a month to spend on food so I used that. Church groups and charities are always handing out food, clothes and toiletries and sometimes I find things on the ground that people have thrown away or dropped. It's amazing the kinds of things you can find that have been left behind. I've found everything from uneaten food to blankets. Actually, if you go out near skid row, the place is a pit. One of the reasons I became a Wiccan is because it's a religion that venerates nature and I'm a nature lover and some places in the city, the ground looks like a dump. It's shocking because I've never seen so much litter in my life. It's sad since people are basically killing this planet with their trash."

"I know. You lot are clever as a species but sometimes you can be thick when it comes to things like that," the Doctor said.

"I know. And the bad thing is a lot of people don't seem to care that they're polluting the place. Parts of Detroit are lovely, don't get me wrong but even the natives are saying that the city is going downhill and it's a shadow of its former self.

The Doctor nodded.

"Yes, I've been here during the 1950's and '60's during the heyday of Motown so I agree with that," he said.

"I've been all over the city and seen the trashy and the nice parts of it and it's an eye opener because the suburbs aren't all trashy and litter filled. No wonder the planet is going to hell in a handbasket," Raven said.

"Well, I think being homeless gives you a different perspective on things," the Doctor said.

"I know it does. I've traveled around and tried to be a tourist but I also see things that not many people see or care to see because they have money to stay in hotels and avoid the seedier places. It's rough being homeless but there have been valuable lessons I've learned that I never would have learned if I'd stayed back in my apartment in Indiana."

"I agree. And I think another benefit was you gained back your self-esteem and proved to yourself that you aren't a timid little doormat and you can survive on your own."

"Oh yeah, if you'd seen me five years ago, you wouldn't have recognized me. It's like night and day the way I am now and the way I used to be."

"I can believe that," the Doctor said.

He finished up his Coke and sighed contentedly.

"That hit the spot," he said while she laughed. "Thank you for the tip on how to get free beverages. I'll definitely remember that in future. Now, would you like to leave and go somewhere else before security cottons on that we're a couple of homeless rule breakers?"

Raven laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, follow me and I'll show you the Christmas decorations down at Campus Martius park."

"Lead the way," he said as he followed her back towards the front door.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

They headed back outside and further downtown until they reached Campus Maritius park. The park was in the middle of a roundabout and had a huge water fountain in the middle of it that shot up fountains in different patterns while streams of water jutted out from the sides and hit the water spilling over the brown marble into the pool below. There was a fifty foot Christmas tree nearby that was gaily decorated and a large ice skating rink housed under a huge white tent. Several people were skating on it and laughing and talking as the Doctor and Raven walked up and sat down at one of the black metal tables that ringed the fountain. Around the square fountain itself were more metal folding chairs, set up so that people could sit and watch the fountain while they talked. The two friends sat and admired the Christmas tree for a moment before Raven reached into her pocket and pulled out a granola bar. She showed it to the Doctor when she noticed him looking at it.

"If you're homeless and you accept handouts from church and charity groups, one thing you'll never run out of is granola bars and peanut butter crackers," she said while he chuckled. "It's not for me though. I noticed some birds and I figured they're hungry so I'll feed them while we rest here."

She opened it up, took a bit off the top and threw it on the ground in front of her.

"So," she said as she threw bits of the granola bar in the bird's direction, "if you don't find any evildoers, do you just move on to the next destination?"

"Sometimes. Sometimes I find other things to do but if there's nothing that holds my interest, I move on," the Doctor said.

"How long have you been doing this?" Raven asked.

"Centuries."

"Centuries? How old are you?"

The Doctor grinned.

"904."

He chuckled when Raven was shocked at that.

"Dang, you look good for your age," she said.

"Well, it's because whenever my body wears out or I'm fatally wounded, I can regenerate and get a whole new body and the body I get can be any age."

"Wow, wish I could do that. How many times have you done this regenerating?"

"Nine times. I'm on my tenth body and I can have thirteen bodies before I finally die."

"So, that's how you've died? By fighting evil?"

"Yes. Mind you, most of my people lived much longer than I did. I went through lives quickly because unlike them, I didn't sit around and observe history, I actually stepped in and helped people or situations that needed my help. Some Time Lords, which is what I am, lived for eons because they never did much of anything."

"Sounds boring," Raven said.

"Yeah, that was my thought as well," the Doctor replied.

Raven smiled when she noticed a stray tabby cat walking into the park.

"Kitty, kitty, kitty," she said as she threw some granola bar his way.

The cat meowed as he walked up to the bit of granola. He sniffed it and walked away.

"Okay, guess cats don't like granola bars," she said as the Doctor laughed.

She held out her hand and the cat walked over and rubbed against it while he purred. The Doctor smiled at that.

"I'm a cat lover," Raven said as she petted him. "I have this natural affinity with cats. I read that witches have patron deities and I think mine is Bastet, the Egyptian cat goddess. I dream about cats all the time and most of the time, cats that don't like anyone else will come to me and I've always felt drawn to Bastet too."

"That and I think the reason you identify with cats so much is cats are by nature, independent creatures who do what they want, when they want and don't give a damn what people think."

"Yeah, that too," Raven said while he laughed. "I also believe everybody has a totem animal that guides and protects them and I think mine is a lion."

"I can see that," the Doctor said.

The cat walked away and Raven went back to feeding the birds. By now, several birds were around them, greedily grabbing the bits of granola.

"How about you and me take in a show tonight?" the Doctor said. "I know there are several theaters around town, let's see if one of them is showing something good, perhaps a Christmas show?"

"Um…I'd like to but I have to be back in the Salvation Army by 8:45 or I lose my bed."

"They won't excuse you for one night if I tell them you're with me?"

"No. They didn't even let people go home and spend the night with their families over Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving weekend. You can call in late but you can't spend the night out somewhere or they throw you out."

"That's a bit harsh, isn't it?" the Doctor said.

"I guess they figure if you have family that are willing to take you out for a night, then you can go and stay with them. The only reason I think you can stay out overnight is if you're in the hospital and even then I'm not certain they won't kick you out."

"Then how 'bout this? I have a time machine. If you go out with me tonight, I'll use my TARDIS and bring you back to this exact time and you won't have to worry about losing your bed. Sound good?"

"Sure."

He smiled.

"Where is the Salvation Army anyway? I'd like to go in with you and observe what you go through. A sort of Raven's day in the life, so to speak."

"Well, they won't let you do that either. Even if you're my guest, you wouldn't be allowed to go back to the dorm rooms. The most you can do is sit up by the lobby and visit with me and that's only for fifteen minutes and then you have to leave."

The Doctor's mouth dropped open.

"Fifteen minutes? That's all I get?" he said in disbelief.

"Yup."

"Blimey, Raven, I don't know how you do it. I'd lose my mind staying there," the Doctor said.

"Yup, I'm about to do just that, trust me."

"Well…in that case, I have a device called a perception filter that allows me to become nearly invisible. As long as I don't draw attention to myself, I can pass by someone and they will see me but their perception is shifted enough that they ignore me anyway. Sorta as if I'm a ghost to them. I'll use the perception filter tonight and go in with you. I'm curious to see the kind of life you lead in there. After that, I'll use another perception filter and we'll walk back out and go have some fun. Sound good?"

"Sure. But you know, you might not like the Salvation Army. It might drive you insane."

"Well, I'm half insane now so it won't matter," he said with a wink.

"Hey!"

Raven and the Doctor jerked their heads around and saw a young black man standing by their table. He had a bald head, a baby face and was wearing green coveralls. He pointed at the granola bar.

"No feeding the birds," he said sternly.

"Sorry," Raven muttered.

The man nodded and turned away. The Doctor watched Raven as she glared at him. Then with a smirk, she tore off a big piece of granola, threw it at the birds and then muttered "Prick," as she stuffed it back in her pocket as the man walked away from them. The Doctor chuckled at that.

"You don't like being told what to do, do ya?" he said amused.

"It's not that. I am law abiding for the most part but I hate stupid rules like that. I mean, come on, I've been feeding the birds and you don't see a big Hitchcockian throng of them descending on us and filling the park with poop, do ya? I know that's why he has the problem with me feeding them, but the birds are gonna congregate here anyway, with or without me feeding them. So I really don't see the point of stopping me since they're here anyway. Ah well, I'll stop feeding them then before I get arrested for creating fat birds."

The Doctor held out his hand.

"Can I see your granola bar?" he said.

Raven pulled it out and gave it to him. She laughed when the Doctor quickly unwrapped it, threw a large piece down and handed it back to Raven while he whistled.

"Yup, love creating anarchy and fighting the powers that be," he said while Raven giggled. "Hurry, little birdies, eat up before the man comes back and takes it away."

"I like you, you're great," Raven said.

"Well, I like you too," he said. "You're fun to be with and you and I have a lot in common. So…what should we do next, my partner in crime?"

"Well…let's see…we could walk up to Comerica Park or….ooo!"

"What?" the Doctor said excitedly.

"I know something we can do! The library has these museum passes that you can check out like books. The museum passes let in two or four people depending on what you get. Wanna see if we can find a museum to go to for free?"

"Sounds good to me, my little guide, escort me to the nearest library then."

"Follow me, my alien friend," Raven said as she and the Doctor got up from their seats and headed out of the park.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Raven led the Doctor to the center of downtown where one of the branches of the Detroit Library was housed in a large rectangular two story white marble building that was built to resemble in the ancient Greek style. They walked in and past the front desk. The interior had dark wooden walls and windows that were high up, giving limited light in some places. Raven led him to a wooden display rack by the front desk. It had plastic holders on it that had huge red laminated cards in them. Each card was for a museum that was in metro Detroit or around the Detroit area. The Doctor studied stickers on the plastic holders that listed the name of the museum while Raven grabbed a booklet and looked through it at the addresses of the different museums. She glanced at them and then at the names on the stickers while she tried to decide which museums were closest to them.

"Some of these don't really tickle my fancy, to be honest," the Doctor said to her.

"What do you like?" Raven said.

"The history ones look good or perhaps the art museums," the Doctor said.

"Well, the Detroit History Museum is back in midtown and it seems the closest. You wanna go to it?"

"Sounds good. Now, let's see, what else shall we pick?" the Doctor said, looking.

"Um…you can only pick one. They only let you check out one pass every seven days," Raven said.

She giggled when the Doctor's mouth dropped open. An impish grin spread over his face and he leaned into her ear.

"Pricks," he said as she laughed.

"Yup, I agree, but I guess they don't want you hogging all the passes. Gotta let others have fun too."

"No!" the Doctor said as she laughed harder. "We deserve all the fun we can find. Let everyone else suffer."

"I couldn't agree more," Raven said while he winked at her.

"Is that all you want to get?" the Doctor said, pointing to the pass.

"Yeah, I have enough books right now."

He followed her as she took the Detroit History Museum pass up to the counter to check it out. The librarian took it and filled out a paper pass that would admit two people. Raven thanked her, took it and she and the Doctor walked back outside.

* * *

The Detroit History Museum was next to the main library on Woodward Street which amused the Doctor.

"How handy, we coulda checked the pas out here and gone right outside and across the street," he said, gesturing to the larger Greek style building as they passed it.

They crossed the street and entered the double doors of the large red brick building. Inside was a reception desk with a young lady standing behind it. She was in her mid-twenties with her long brown hair tied back in a ponytail. She was wearing a white shirt with a little name tag that said Lucy on it. She smiled at them as they walked up.

"May I help you?"

Raven handed her the pass.

"Two?" Lucy said.

They nodded and she handed them a small brochure that had a map of the floors and exhibits and wished them a good time as they climbed four steps to the first room. Along the back was a large glass display that showcased three foods from Detroit, Better Made snacks, Stroh's Beer and Vernors' drinks. The display showed several varieties of potato chips and Vernors drinks and a few cases of beer while a television showed old TV ads for them.

"I've had the Better Made chips before, they're pretty good," Raven said, "other than that, I haven't had the Vernors sodas and I don't like beer."

"I like British beer but not American beer, too watery," the Doctor commented.

They moved off to the left into the next room and looked through several displays that showed famous Detroit natives through the years and some of the items they might have used.

"I've met Chief Pontiac before and Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac just after he founded Detroit," the Doctor said. "They both were friendly, at least to me. They probably wouldn't have been friendly to each other."

"How many people have you met?" Raven asked him.

"Famous people or just people in general?" the Doctor asked as they walked into the next room.

"Um…famous people."

"Loads. I can't even begin to count all the people I've met, both from Earth and other planets."

Raven shook her head at that. Suddenly her foot hit a cobblestone and she stumbled. The Doctor caught her.

"You okay?" he said.

"Yeah, I didn't realize that was jutting up like that," she said, pointing to the fake rock embedded in the floor.

The floor was filled with fake cobblestones that had been pained a reddish color. In between the floor was black. The reason for them was they were standing in an enormous room that house a simulation of a Detroit town from the 17 and 1800's. There were simulated store fronts around, everything from a general store to a fire station with an antique boiler fire engine inside to a telegraph office. In front of each store was a little wooden porch and they walked along those while they looked at the shops since the cobblestones were hard to walk on and put pressure on their heels. As they walked along, the cobblestone became round slabs of wood and the Doctor realized they had started at the 1800's portion of the exhibit and were moving backwards to the 1700's. As they walked by a blacksmith's shop, they paused when they saw wax figures of the blacksmith and a young boy who was showing him a wanted poster for fugitive slaves. As they came closer, they were shocked when dialogue came out of a speaker above them. They could heard the sound of someone hammering something on the blacksmith's anvil. They stood and listened to the little pretend exchange between the man and the boy.

"Well Tommy," they heard the blacksmith say in a baritone voice while the pounding was going on. "Did you manage to sneak the slaves on board the ship?"

"Yes, I did, Mister Cullen," Tommy said in a tenor voice. "For a moment I saw two slave catchers but I managed to get them on board the boat and off to Canada before they could catch up to them."

"Excellent. By now those slaves are on their way to a new life in Canada," Mister Cullen said.

They heard the clanging stop.

"But there is something I need to tell you, Tommy," he said gravely.

"Yes?"

"You left the trap door unlatched and hanging open. Some men were by asking if I'd seen the slaves and I locked it just in time. You know it was filled with blankets and supplies and if they'd seen it…"

"I'm sorry, Sir," Tommy said, sheepishly.

"Well…just be more careful in future," Mister Cullen said the clanging started again.

"Um…that's a little unbelievable to me," Raven said.

The Doctor looked at her.

"How so?" he asked.

"I read a lot of history. I know that people who harbored slaves would have been arrested or killed. I don't think he would have been that calm when he told him they nearly got caught."

She grinned.

"Call me sadistic but I think it would have been more realistic for him to scream at Tommy what a fool he was and then hear whip sounds while Tommy begged for mercy."

She giggled when the Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"Another thing I'm learning about you, you have a very dark sense of humor."

"Just striving for realism, is all," she said with a shrug and a grin. "I like museum displays where the people completely lose it and beat each other and scare the kids who come to listen."

He chuckled and patted her on the shoulder as they moved on.

* * *

"Blimey, they have a lot of car exhibits," the Doctor said after a half hour of looking around. "The race car exhibit, the car factory exhibit, the climb into the old car to see what it's like exhibit."

"Well, it is the Motor City," Raven said.

"Yes but I think the Motor City has a bit more in its history than cars and crisps and child beating blacksmiths," he said as Raven giggled. "I thought they'd have more on Motown but I haven't seen very much, have you?"

"No and I just love the little plaque about the Underground Railroad on the stair landing. I mean, this was one of the main routes into Canada, not to mention Metro Detroit is about 84 percent black and that's it? Kinda disappointing."

"I s'pose they had to decide between runaway slaves and cars and the cars won out, seems like," the Doctor said while Raven chuckled.

"Well, to be fair, they do have an Underground Railroad museum down the street and a statue in Belle Plaza downtown, so they do give it a bit more coverage than the wall plaque but still…this is their history museum and…ah well, I didn't design the thing. It's their museum. Did you meet any slaves like Harriet Tubman?"

"I did and I helped her free some slaves and get them to safety. That was in my third life though, centuries ago," he said. "I also met Fredrick Douglass but that was after he became a free man and became famous."

Raven shook her head.

"I am so envious of you. You've done so many cool things and I've been stuck in Detroit," she said.

"Now wait a minute, you've had your share of adventures too," the Doctor said. "You've been just as brave as I have and that was without a time machine at your disposal. Don't sell yourself short like that, Raven."

"I know but still, that chance to go through history and meet all those people. That would be so wonderful."

The Doctor said nothing to that, but inside he was torn. Here was someone who was like him, who longed for adventure, who was brave and clever and resourceful. Everything he looked for in a companion, but he vowed he would never take anyone along with him after what happened with Rose and Donna. But yet, to leave her homeless without any hope of leaving her situation seemed cruel to him. He could tell just by looking at her that she was far better than her situation and needed to be taken away from all this. He kept debating over and over in his mind whether or not he should take her with him when Raven tapped his shoulder.

"Listen, I need to get back to the Salvation Army. It's nearly time for supper and if you wanna observe life there before we go somewhere else, now's a good time."

"Okay, but let me take you to my TARDIS first to get the perception filter. It's just down the street and we won't be long."

"Really? I'll get to see your ship?"

He smiled and nodded.

"Well, are you ready then? Or do you wanna look at more cars?"

"No, I think I've seen my share of motors for today, let's go on to my TARDIS and then on to the Sally Ann before we find something to do tonight," he said.

Raven nodded and the Doctor followed her back towards the front.

_I don't think we'll see a show tonight, Raven,_ he thought as he followed her. _I think a better idea is to take you somewhere in my TARDIS. Perhaps try you out and see if you really have what it takes to be a companion before I decide whether or not to take you with me. _


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

The TARDIS was back down the street, several blocks away from the museum. It was nearing three in the afternoon and Raven told him supper started at four thirty and it was an hour's walk back. He led the way to the alley where his TARDIS sat. Raven was shocked when she saw it.

"You weren't kidding when you said it could fit almost everywhere," she said, shaking her head. "No wonder you travel a lot, I imagine you have to go a ton of places just to get out of the cramped box long enough to breathe."

"Actually, there's plenty of room on the inside. Have a look," the Doctor said, unlocking the door.

He opened it up and stepped back, enjoying the usual reaction his new friends had to the interior of his time ship.

"What the hell?" Raven said, going inside and up the ramp. "This is…incredible. How is this possible?"

"Well," the Doctor said, coming in behind her. "This police box is camouflaging my front door. That's in your universe and the rest of this is sitting in an alternate dimension."

"I'm standing in another dimension right now?"

"Yup."

"Wild!" Raven said, looking around.

She noticed the console and walked over to it.

"What the heck is this thing?" she said to the Doctor as he came up beside her.

"That is my control panel."

"You pilot your ship with a paperweight," Raven said, pointing to the glass paperweight that was embedded in the console.

"Well, you see, this ship is very old. It was old and obsolete when I took her and she's seen centuries of use since then so from time to time, I had to repair her with whatever I could find."

"Aren't you worried that the ship is going to disintegrate if you're having to use paperweights for your controls?" Raven said.

"Nah, she's a tough little ship. She's been a lot and come through it, she's got centuries left in her, maybe even millennia. I'm not worried about her at all."

"Her? You do what Earth men do and call you ship a she like they do with their cars?"

"No, she's an actual female. She's a living organism, a sentient ship, and TARDISes have genders. This one just happens to be female."

He smiled when he saw how fascinated she was by that.

"Follow me, I'll give you a quick tour on the way back to the laboratory to pick up my perception filters," he said as he pointed to the back door.

* * *

Raven was awestruck as the Doctor conducted his quick tour.

"This is so cool! But you're all alone, in this huge ship? How big is it really?"

"I have no idea. She's alive, as I said, and she grows all the time. She was massive when I first took her and she's been growing since. I honestly have no clue how big she is. I usually just keep to a few rooms and don't go exploring much, although my companions have over the years."

"But don't you get lonely? I mean this place is huge," Raven said, looking around. "If you traveled with companions before, why aren't you doing it now?"

She noticed his uneasiness at that and felt embarrassed for having been so forward.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," she said quickly. "I mean, trust me, I enjoy being on my own and I understand if you want to be alone but the size of this place would make me feel small after awhile."

"There's no need to apologize. You didn't upset me by asking that. It's just that what happened to make me swear off companions is a bit distressing and it's still fresh in my mind."

"I understand," Raven said.

The Doctor felt guilty at upsetting his new friend but he was still reluctant to talk about Rose and Donna and he was still torn over whether or not he should take her with him. He led her to the laboratory and Raven looked around while he went over to a drawer and took out two perception filters. He showed them to Raven when she came over to take a look.

"These keys make you invisible?" she said to him.

"Not invisible, just unnoticed. Here I'll show you. Stand back."

Raven nodded and stepped back several feet. The Doctor put one of the perception filters around his neck and grinned when Raven blinked her eyes a couple of times, trying to see him properly.

"What the hell did you do?" she said as she tried to focus on him.

"Shifted your perception just enough that even though you see me, you feel like you don't wanna see me."

"And when you spoke, that broke the spell or whatever it was because now I can see you clearly."

"Sorta, you're seeing me because you wanna see me," he replied. "That's why you can't draw attention to me if we go inside and if you speak to me, whisper."

Raven nodded. The Doctor took off the perception filter and she and him walked back out of the room.

__________________

After they left the TARDIS, Raven led him towards the Salvation Army along a route she normally followed. As they got closer to it, the Doctor noticed that the neighborhood began to look a bit rougher and even though he had seen litter on the ground, now he noticed that litter was strewn everywhere and he realized what Raven had been talking about when she told him about some of the trashier parts of the city. He noticed with some amusement as they walked through an apartment complex that the streets crisscrossing the apartments were named after Motown groups like the Temptations and the Commodores. While they were going through the apartment complex, the Doctor warned Raven and put his perception filter on so he wouldn't forget it. Raven chatted quietly with him, pointing out Motor City to him in the distance as they left the outskirts of the complex. Up ahead was a liquor store. It was a rectangular breeze block building that had been painted yellow with a tropical scene painted on the right side of it. Milling around it were a bunch of black teenagers and young adults, all of them dressed like gangstas. The Doctor, knowing his was invisible to them, kept a wary eye on them as Raven walked confidently towards the street that was in front of it. The store was on the corner of a four way stop and the youths saw her and as she and the Doctor headed across the street to the other side, one of them, a teenager with a chisled face and closely cropped hair started going towards her.

"Hey baby, what's your name?" he said, coming at her at a diagonal angle.

"Leave me alone!" Raven barked at him as she kept walking.

"No, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I'm just getting started with you!" the teen said menacingly as the other youths stood by the liquor store and watched.

The Doctor was about ready to intervene when Raven suddenly stopped at the curb on the other side of the street. The teen who was a foot in front of her up on the sidewalk, stopped with her, clearly intending to harass her. The Doctor watched with silent admiration as Raven didn't flinch, merely stood there glaring at him silently, not moving a muscle. The Doctor glanced at the teen, who was staring down at the pavement waiting for her to move. The Doctor balled his fist up, ready to help defend her, but then the teen turned around and stomped away.

"I'll leave you alone now," he muttered under his breath.

Raven glared at him as he walked away and then calmly went on her way down the tree lined pavement. The Doctor was doubly impressed. He had sensed no fear, no rapid heartbeat as she stood her ground. His admiration for his new friend grew.

* * *

After another twenty minutes, they reached the Salvation Army. The Doctor glanced around at all the buildings. He could see at least three separate brick buildings each fenced in with a black wrought iron fence. The whole thing resembled a compound rather than a shelter.

"You live in all these buildings?" the Doctor said to her.

"No, the women and family stay in the building on the right and the men's shelter and the church are in the building at the end of the street. This building beside us on the left, I think they're offices, but I'm not sure, I've never been in there before."

They passed in front of an old storage facility that was run down and had been tagged with graffiti on it's docking doors and the sides of the wall. The pavement was cracked and in some places parts of it were jutting up with grass growing through the cracks. There was trash everywhere and the Doctor couldn't help but notice how gloomy it was and his earlier assessment that Raven deserved better was strengthened.

They crossed the street in front of the storage facility to the women and family shelter. The one story brick shelter was fenced in and had several cars and vans in the parking lot. Several of them were painted white with the Salvation Army logo on the and Bed and Bread Club painted on the side in red block letters. She led them to one of two double doors, the one that was nearest the street and they went inside. The Doctor followed at her heels so no one would notice him. Inside was a check in station on the left side and a small lobby on the right that the Doctor guessed was where the guests went for their fifteen minute visits. He stopped and watched as Raven went through a doorway into the check in station and was patted down and searched by a small plump black lady who had her long black hair pulled back in a ponytail and had black spectacles on her face. The lady dismissed her when she found no weapons on her and Raven went back out the door and signed back in on a log book lying in an open window. He then followed her though a set of metal double doors, turned right with her, walked down a hallway that had a scuffed linoleum floor and bare white walls towards another set of metal double doors, then after a few feet, turned left and walked down a shorter hall that had rooms on either side of them towards another set of double doors.

"Blimey, this place is like a maze," the Doctor said as they passed through these last set of doors.

"Tell me about it. It took me a week to get used to it. I kept getting turned around in here and getting lost on the way to my room."

They paused at the door to her room. The heavy wooden door was shut and above it was a small plaque that said 1008. She opened the doors and the Doctor walked inside with her. The room was empty but had six beds scattered around the room. The beds all had metal frames with drawers in the side except for one in the far right corner that had a wooden frame and no drawers. The mattresses were all made of hard plastic and each one was made up with a white fitted and flat sheet and a thin cotton blanket that had three blue stripes running along the tops and bottoms of them. Raven led him to the wooden framed bed and took off her coat, draping it on a nearby leather chair. At the foot of her bed was a wooden chest of drawers that matched one that was diagonally across from it on the other side of the room. On top of the chest of drawers were some clothes, a few books, a black cat plushie, a little pink spotted leopard, a pink My Little Pony unicorn with rainbow colored hair and a pine cone. On Raven's bed, the Doctor noticed a couple of books and went over to inspect them. He picked them up and grinned when he saw they were biographies about Casanova and John Dillinger.

"Interesting choice of reading material," he said to her. "Two books about people who didn't live by society's rules. I can see why you checked these out of the library."

Raven giggled.

"There's this Casanova movie with a guy named David Tennant who looks a lot like you. I liked it and decided to read about him and Dillinger…I liked the Public Enemies movie with Johnny Depp when I saw it. And you're right, both men just fascinate me. I guess because they didn't play by the rules. And David Tennant and Johnny Depp are cute."

She laughed when the Doctor raised his eyebrow at that and with a grin, set the books back on the bed.

"So, ready to come and see what the cafeteria is like? " she asked him.

"Lead on, Macduff!" the Doctor said to her as they walked out of the room.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

After leaving the room, the Doctor and Raven rounded a corner and went through more double doors into another hallway that had double doors directly off to the right and a set of double doors about thirty feet in front of them.

"There are a lot of double doors in this place, no wonder you got lost," the Doctor muttered while Raven laughed.

They went through the double doors in front of them and as they walked further down the hall the Doctor noticed a hallway intersected them right in front of the lunch room and sure enough on either side were two metal double doors. The Doctor shook his head and followed her down almost to the end of the hallway which had another set of double doors to the back door of the cafeteria which the Doctor noted with amusement was a single wooden door.

"What no double door here?" he muttered to Raven as she sniggered.

They walked inside and the Doctor saw a large room that had a partition in the center of it with a wide doorway. On either side of the partition were round tables made of tough plastic that were scattered around the room. Against the back wall were metal racks that held metal folding chairs. Raven took two of the chairs, carried it to an empty table near the front and set it up for her and the Doctor before walking over to the right side to a long table that had bread and butter on it and baskets with plastic forks, knives and spoons in it. She grabbed two slices of bread and three little packets of butter and her cutlerly before she walked around and got in line for the food. The Doctor stood beside her and looked around. The dining room was almost completely full with young woman and children sitting at nearly every table. Like Raven's room, the walls were painted white and devoid of any decoration. On the other side of the room was a metal milk dispenser and a round table next to it that had Styrofoam cups on it. On the other side of the dispenser was another table with a microwave on top and sitting beside it was a stern looking black lady who had light colored skin and red hair that was pulled back in a tight bun. The lady sat with her arms crossed watching everybody like a hawk as Raven moved up in line towards the server who was serving the food on Styrofoam plates out of metal pans inside a heater that kept the food warm. Beside them was another long table that had salt and pepper shakers on them. The Doctor noticed that directly behind the old man who was serving was a row of food and drink vending machines.

"Odd place to serve food," he muttered in Raven's ear.

She turned her head and whispered in her ear.

"Kitchens on the other side of the wall there. It's being completely remodeled. That's why all this stuff is out here. Normally, you'd have to go into another room to get the food."

The Doctor's mouth formed an O and he nodded. Raven stepped up to the old man and the Doctor made a face as he dumped a heap of rice, some iffy looking meat and vegitables in brown gravy on top of it and put two tiny slightly burnt egg rolls on the side of the plate before handing it to her. Raven thanked him, place the bread on her plate and turned away.

"Yummy!" she said to the Doctor as he sniggered.

"What is it?" the Doctor said.

"Um, I think it's their version of Chinese stir fry," Raven said as they walked back to the table.

They sat down in the metal folding chairs and the Doctor watched as she sat her plate down and hurried to the other side to get some milk.

"Anthony, eat your food!"

He turned his head and noticed a woman at the next table was chiding her three year old son while a five year old boy and seven year old girl ate their dinner.

"Anthony! Eat your food!" the young woman said in a loud, shrill voice.

Raven returned with two small cups of milk and sat down beside the Doctor. He watched with interest as she ate her rice and meat concoction.

"How is it?" the Doctor said softly.

"Not bad, better than it looks."

"What about this then?" the Doctor said, picking up the egg roll. "Dare you eat it?"

Raven grinned. She grabbed it and took a bite while the Doctor feigned disgust and stuck his tongue out.

"Not bad for being burnt," Raven said, shrugging as she sat it down on her plate.

"ANTHONY! EAT YOUR FOOD!"

Raven rolled her eyes and leaned in.

"She does this every meal time. The kid apparently won't eat so she has to scream at him and she screams that over and over. It gets on my nerves."

"Now, now, pretend you're in a fancy Chinese restaurant in Beijing," the Doctor teased.

"ANTHONY! EAT…YOUR…FOOD!"

"One that has a shrill, screaming woman in it who's yelling at her kid," the Doctor added as Raven snorted out laughter.

"Have you ever eaten in a place similar to this?"

"Oh, yes, hundreds of times, some of them not by choice," the Doctor said softly as she snorted out more laughter.

"ANTHONY…"

"Eat your food!" the Doctor said along with the woman which made Raven giggle even more.

"ATTENTION EVERYONE!"

The Doctor nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard someone bellowing and saw the light skinned woman was now up by the server screaming at everyone.

"NO ONE IS TO GO BEHIND THE SERVER TO GET TO THE VENDING MACHINES WHILE HE'S SERVING THE FOOD!" she bellowed. "ONCE HE'S FINISHED, THEN YOU CAN GET SNACKS BUT WHILE HE'S UP HERE, YOU'RE NOT TO GO BACK THERE! IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?"

"Ja, mein furher!" the Doctor said saluting her as Raven nearly choked on her milk and laughed hysterically. "Thank you for screaming the warning, I'm nearly deaf in my old age and I never would have heard you otherwise. Thanks for making my Salvation Army dining experience pleasant, Your Worship."

"That's Miss Talley. She's a bitch," Raven said softly to him. "Believe me, there are some monitors who are nice, but most of them are here for a paycheck, trust me, you can tell."

"And they want you to call them by their last names, eh? No familiarity?" the Doctor muttered.

"Yeah but there are some of them I wouldn't wanna be familiar with, trust me," Raven said, rolling her eyes.

"EXCUSE ME!"

The Doctor sighed when Miss Talley bellowed again. He noticed she was looking past him and saw a startled young woman behind him. She was black, tall, thin with short curty hair who was wearing grey sweat pants and a dark blue winter coat.

"MISS, YOU NEED TO TAKE YOUR COAT OFF WHILE YOU'RE IN THE DINING ROOM!" Miss Talley bellowed at her. "THERE'S NO COATS ALLOWED IN THE DINING ROOM, THANK YOU!"

"ANTHONY, EAT YOUR FOOD!" the woman screamed right after her.

Raven giggled when the Doctor gave her an exasperated look.

"You have a mind made of iron to stay here and not go mad," he said while she laughed harder. "I am impressed, Raven, I would have run from this place screaming ages ago."

"Hey, gotta do what ya gotta do."

"ANTHONY, EAT YOUR FOOD!"

"Raven, can I borrow your spoon so I can prop open Anthony's mouth and shovel the food in it," He said while Raven sniggered. "I'd very much like to carry on a conversation with you without twenty people screaming at the top of their lungs."

"Apparently the kid doesn't wanna eat," Raven said softly. "But you know, if she left him alone, sooner or later he'd be saying, "Mommy, I'm hungry, I wanna eat something!" and since you have to eat at certain times here and the lunch room is closed the rest of the time and you can't bring in any food from the outside except hard candy, she'd have to hear him wining all night about being hungry, so that's why she yells at him to eat now."

"You know what? Are you really that hungry, Raven?" the Doctor asked her. "Because I promise you, when we leave here, I'll take you somewhere where you can get a proper meal in a nice dining room where people aren't shrieking like banshees. Please accept my offer because I'm on the verge of punching Anthony, his mum and Miss Talley until blood is gushing from their noses. Please, oh please, let me take you somewhere nice."

Raven giggled when the Doctor rolled his eyes at the woman when she screamed again.

"Okay, but let me change into something a little more formal before we do, alright?"

"Anything, just please let's get outta here!" the Doctor implored.

"Okay, Doctor, I'm going," she said.

She hurriedly finished her milk, put the empty cups on top of what remained of her food and the Doctor followed her as she threw it away in a nearby garbage can and left the room.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine.

The Doctor followed Raven back to her room. It was still empty when they entered so the Doctor walked over to her bed and sat down on it while Raven opened up the third drawer on her chest of drawers and searched for something suitable to wear. The Doctor pushed against her mattress and made a face when it barely gave way. He shook his head, resolving that if he wouldn't take Raven as a companion, he'd at least take her somewhere else where she could get away from the Salvation Army.

Raven pulled out a white blouse and grey slacks.

"This'll have to do," Raven said apologetically. "They're hand me downs."

"That's fine, those'll be perfect," the Doctor said. "And I'll turn my head and let you dress."

He turned his head and looked towards the wall while Raven walked around the other side of the chest of drawers and began to get undressed.

"So, how many are in here then?" the Doctor said, keeping his eyes to the wall.

"Five of us. The bed over here by the heater is empty," Raven said as she dressed.

"Are your roommates nice?"

"Well, mostly but some of them have annoying personality quirks and habits," she said.

"Really? Like what?" the Doctor said.

Well, the woman right beside my bed is named Jo. She's okay. She's the newest one and she keeps to herself and reads a lot. The woman who has the bed by the door is named Brenda. She's nice but she is very pessimistic. She's one of those people who sees a dark cloud over everything. She gets annoying at times because of that and because she can't move very well. She's heavyset and has something wrong with her that causes her to not walk very well so she can't move around and go very far, so she's angry about that and bitter and I think a bit jealous of everyone else because we can walk further than she can. So she's always pestering us about getting her sweets and chocolate with our food stamps even though her and her husband have a card of their own. Her husband is here too but in the men's section because when they first came here, she didn't have her marriage license here as proof they lived together so they had to separate them. So she's upset about that. She also told us the other night that thirty years ago, she and her sister were driving to a party and a drunk driver slammed into them and the steering wheel collapsed her sister's chest, killing her instantly and she was in a coma for about a week. She's still bitter about that and told us if she had her way the drunk driver would have been sent to the electric chair. She means well and I understand her anger and bitterness but sometimes her pessimism wears a bit thin plus asking every night if we brought her anything from outside. In here you're only allowed to have bottled water and hard candy but people sneak in things all the time and I tried to be nice to her one night and brought her orange juice and Pringles that she ate outside and then every night for about two weeks, she asked me if I had anything for her and I kept telling her no. She and her husband want to move to Florida eventually and I wish them luck."

The Doctor nodded at that and looked around when Raven stepped out from behind the chest of drawers fully dressed. She pointed to the bed diagonally across the room from hers.

"Um…that bed belongs to a woman named Sharita. She's the youngest of all of us. She's twenty two and she's a very nice woman but unfortunately she's one of those people that is afraid to say no to others and she'll do whatever anyone asks. She lent her cell phone to whoever asked her and it ended up being stolen when she left it in here to go eat dinner. This room isn't locked and that metal storage cabinet over there has its lock broken so you can't lock things or lock the door so anyone can come in and take things and that's what they did with her. And they think they know who did it. It was a girl who kept asking to use her cell phone and then when she wasn't looking, she came in here and took it. We warned her about that, about giving her phone out like that but she still does it because she doesn't like confrontation. But other than that, she's a sweet girl, just a bit…wishy washy at times."

The Doctor nodded.

"And finally, next to my bed here we have Francesca," Raven said, pointing to the bed behind her chest of drawers. Um…she's nice enough but she's one of those hardcore evangelical Christians. There's a treatment center in here that people with drug and alcohol abuse problems go through for six months, then after they're done with the six months, they come over here. Francesca did that because she was addicted to crack and alcohol and somewhere along the way she found religion and now instead of being addicted to drugs and alcohol, she's addicted to Jesus and Christianity and like she did when she abused drugs, she's overdoing it. She has a boombox here and a bunch of Christian CDs and she'll come in here and play her CDs without asking anyone else if it's okay and then cranks up the volume and most of the time she plays one CD over and over and over for about ten to fifteen hours straight and she has to have it going even when she's asleep and it's gotten to the point where all of us are getting sick of hearing them."

"I bet," the Doctor said.

"She also is constantly thanking Jesus even when she hasn't really done anything and…"

She walked over to a green patio chair by her bed, picked up a small orange bag and showed it to him. On the side of it written in black marker was God's Food For Thought.

"This bag is filled with folder up pieces of paper that are scripture verses and she went through the whole bible, chose different scripture references and typed them up on a computer. She cuts them into little tiny strips, folds them up and walks around, usually in the morning at breakfast or whenever she gets the chance and offers people a chance to reach into the bag and pull out a random scripture passage. She says God told her to do this and that's cool, but she's roped Brenda into cutting them out for her whenever she's too busy to do it which I find weird since it's supposed to be her assignment so she should be doing the busywork but…"

The Doctor chuckled as she sat it back down on the chair and walked around the dresser.

"Anyway, the first time she came in here, I was already in here and she informed us that she would be playing those CDs and I used to be in this bed until I moved to that one and when she asked me if I had a problem with her playing her CD's, I said as long as you don't play them loudly and she said in a really snarky way, tough, oh I'm just kidding, heh, heh. Most of the time you have to ask her to turn the music down or wait till she's asleep and sneak over and turn it down, otherwise you can't sleep at night. I do it and now Brenda does it because she's getting sick of it too. She used to get really pissed off if you even asked her politely to turn it down but now she doesn't do that anymore. She's about to leave though and I'm glad. I'm more of a loner and I like being by myself and being in a confined space with four other people drives me insane sometimes."

"I can sympathize with that," the Doctor said.

"But if you're ready to go then…"

The door suddenly opened and the Doctor saw a heavyset fifty year old woman entering very slowly. She had dark skin, black cornrows that were peppered with grey and had on a maroon sweater and grey sweat pants and tennis shoes. She looked at Raven and smiled.

"Hi, Louise."

"Hey, Brenda," Raven replied.

She cast a worried glance at the Doctor; fearful she might see him and then realized the Doctor had been correct about being ignored. She discreetly gestured towards the door as she looked at him and he held up his finger.

"In a minute, I wanna listen to you both," he mouthed.

Raven nodded as Brenda slumped down on her bed by the door. Raven sat down beside the Doctor as he put his hands behind his head and leaned back against the wall.

"You eat dinner?" Brenda asked.

"Yeah, I did. Some of it," Raven replied.

"I couldn't eat it, it was disgusting. I'm getting so sick and tired of the crappy food around here," Brenda said, shaking her head. "They feed us slop and I'm so hungry because I don't hardly eat anything."

Brenda gave Raven an eager, hopeful look.

"So, you bring anything home for me tonight?" she said with a smile that revealed most of the top front of her teeth were missing.

"No," Raven said. "I didn't buy anything."

The smile fell off Brenda's face.

"Shit, I'm hungry. I want some chocolate so bad," she whined. "My husband's gonna sell our food stamps this month. Gonna sell all two hundred of it cause we need bus fare and supplies. I need to ride the bus, I can't walk like y'all anymore. I feel so old."

Raven glanced at the Doctor who winked and grinned at her.

"Well," Raven said, trying to lighten the mood, "you're only as young as you feel."

Brenda snorted.

"Well, I'm old then. I hate being old."

"Well, you don't have to feel old inside," Raven said. "Me, I may grow old but I'll never grow up!"

She glanced at the Doctor and notice him nodding and giving a thumbs up to that. Brenda snorted again.

"Well, if I were you, I'd grow old because if you don't, people will treat you like a kid all your life and you don't want that," she said.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes at that while Raven let out a soft sigh. The door opened again and a small, plump woman with dark skin, short dark hair and a pronounced overbite came into the room.

"Hey, Jo," Brenda said. "You bring any candy?"

"No, I didn't," Jo said, shrugging her brown winter coat off and placing it beside her bed.

She flopped down on the bed and looked at Raven.

"Hey, you still do that witchcraft stuff?" she asked in a half mumbled tone of voice.

"Uh…yeah, I'm still learning how," Raven said, hesitantly.

"Can you turn people into toads?" Jo asked as Brenda rolled her eyes and snorted.

"No, witches don't really do that, that's something from the movies," Raven said calmly.

"You can't? Damn, I was hoping you'd turn my bastard ex-husband into a toad," Jo said.

"No, sorry, even if I could do it, I wouldn't," Raven said.

"Oh, why not? He's a prick, he deserves to be turned into a toad," Jo said.

"Because Wiccans believe whatever you do, good or bad, the energy you put out comes back to you and I wouldn't turn someone into a toad because the negative energy would come back to me," Raven said as calmly as she could.

"Yeah, but this guy's an asshole so turning him into a toad would be a positive thing."

The Doctor sighed and rolled his eyes at that.

"Sure you can't turn him into a toad?" Jo said.

"No," Raven said, nearly on the verge of losing her temper.

"Damn, that prick deserves it," Jo said, reaching over by her bed and picking up a paperback book. "If you ever find out how to do it, let me know so I can take you to him."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to do that," Raven muttered under her breath as the Doctor gave her a sympathetic look.

The door opened again and a short woman in her early twenties walked in. She had dark skin, short black hair that was pulled back in a short ponytail and was wearing a red hoodie and blue jeans.

"Hey, Sharita," Raven said to her.

"Hello!" Sharita said cheerfully as everyone else greeted her.

She walked over to her bed and sat down on it. The Doctor watched as she took off her hoodie and then reached down through the neck hole of her black sweater. She fished around and then pulled out a Snickers chocolate bar.

"Where'd you hide that? Your bra?" Brenda asked.

"Yup!" Sharita said.

Raven bit her lip when she heard the Doctor snicker at that. The Doctor leaned over into her ear.

"You poor people," he whispered. "Reduced to sneaking choccy in your bras so you can have sweets."

Raven bit her lip hard to keep from laughing as the Doctor sat back up. He noticed Brenda was eyeing the Snickers bar while Sharita was opening it as if she had been lost in the desert for three days and just spied an oasis filled with sparkling water.

"Oooooh," Brenda moaned. "I sure could use some chocolate right now. Sharita, you mind giving me a piece of that?"

The Doctor looked at Sharita who had paused to look at her. He raised his eyebrow when for a split second he saw anger and annoyance on her face but she said nothing as she nodded, got up and pulled a large chunk of it, walking over to her bed, she gave it to her.

"Thanks, Little Bit," Brenda said happily.

"You're welcome," Sharita said with what the Doctor knew was forced cheerfulness.

He glanced at Raven.

"See what I mean?" she mouthed to him.

He nodded and watched as Brenda eagerly chewed the piece of candy.

"Ooooh, that hits the spot," Brenda said, licking her lips. "I wish I had more money so I could get more chocolate. I'm starving up in this joint!"

The door flew open.

"Hey ya'll!"

The last occupant of the room entered. Francesca had dark skin, black hair that was down to her shoulders and was slightly overweight. She had on a purple winter coat and black slacks.

"I HAVE BEEN BLESSED, YA'LL!" she bellowed at everyone. "GOD IS GOOD! I'M GETTING A HOUSE AND I CAN MOVE INTO IT IN A COUPLE OF DAYS! THANK YOU, JESUS!"

The Doctor raised his eyebrow when she froze and threw her hands into the sky.

"Jesus," she murmured as she closed her eyes, "thank you so much for the blessings you have bestowed upon your servant. You said that if you command the mountain to move, it will MOVE! And you have done that, Lord Jesus! In your name I pray, Amen! HALLELUIAH! GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD!"

The Doctor leaned over to Raven's ear.

"Excuse me," he murmured into it, "why are you still sane?"

Raven put her hand over her mouth to cover the smile as Francesca walked over to her boombox and turned it on. The Doctor raised his eyebrow when she immediately cranked the volume up nearly full blast and a choir bellowed out a high C, causing his sensitive hearing to ache.

"HALLALUAH! GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD!" Francesca said as she danced around and clapped her hands to the beat. "AT LAST, I WILL GET MY OWN HOUSE WITH MY DAUGHTER AND I CAN HAVE MY MUSIC UP AS LOUD AS I WANT IT AND PRAY IN TONGUES WHEN I WANT TO AND LOUISE WON'T HAVE TO BE BOTHERED BY ME!"

The Doctor narrowed his eyes at that as Raven sighed, caught his eye and shook her head slightly. Just then they heard her religious ringtone go off. Francesca took her cell phone out of her pocket and hit the talk button.

"Hello," she said into it. "Why I'm blessed and highly favored, how 'bout you? I said…I'm blessed and highly favored, how 'bout you?"

"Maybe if she turned the gospel music down to a sane level, the other person could hear how blessed and highly favored she is," the Doctor muttered into Raven's ear as she bit her lip.

"Guess what? The lord has blessed me with a house of my own and I'm moving into it in a few days. And once that happens, I can begin my ministry and begin saving souls for the Lord, thank you, Jesus!"

The Doctor looked around the room. Jo was quietly reading her book; Brenda was watching Francesca as she talked on the phone and Sharita was staring at something on her Iphone and completely ignoring everyone.

"Yup, I've have sown and now is the time of my harvest, thank you, Jesus, you are Lord," Francesca said as she continued her conversation.

While the Doctor sat and listened to Francesca, he winced when a child right outside the door suddenly screeched in a high-pitched voice right outside the door followed by a woman telling the child to shut up.

"So are you coming to church with me Sunday?" Francesca said as the child screeched again and again the woman told him to shut up. "It's here at the Salvation Army. I'm a member now and I want you to come with me and hear the word of the Lord."

The Doctor flinched when he heard a loud thump on the wall behind his head. He gave an enquiring glance to Raven as he pointed to it.

"The children's activity room is next door," she whispered as she leaned in, "and they beat on the walls in there."

"Okay, well, I got to go, I gotta go to church service with Brenda. We have a women's meeting tonight," Francesca was saying into the phone. "But I will see you Sunday and you have a blessed night. Bye."

She hung up the phone and put it back in her pocket.

"Brenda, you 'bout ready to go?" Francesca said to her.

"Yeah, just let me get my coat on," Brenda said as she slowly got up.

They heard a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Raven and everyone else yelled.

The door opened a bit and a tall, skinny blonde woman with a long ponytail peeked her head in.

"I just needed a scripture," she said.

"I have them here," Francesca said, bouncing over to get her orange bag.

She unzipped it, walked over to the door and held it open while the woman rifled around and pulled out a tiny folded up piece of paper.

"Thanks," the woman said.

"Thank you, have a blessed night," Francesca said.

"You too."

The door shut as Francesca walked back to her bed, warbling in a scratchy off-key voice.

"His eye is on the spaaaarroooooow," she sang with the CD as she put her bag back in the chair and grabbed her bible. "And I know he watches meeeee!"

She continued to sing as she and Brenda walked over to the door.

"See ya later," Francesca said as she opened it and both of them went out.

Raven glanced at the Doctor. He leaned over to her ear.

"I-eee think I've seen enough. You wanna leave now?" he whispered.

Raven nodded slightly.

"Let's go then."

They both stood up. Jo looked up from her book when she put her coat back on.

"You leaving?" she asked Raven.

"Yeah for a little while, I wanna take a walk," Raven said.

"Ya'll be careful then," Jo said, her eyes returning to the book.

"I will. I'll see you guys later," Raven said as she and the Doctor walked to the door.

Both women said goodbye and Raven opened the door and she and the Doctor walked through it.

"Well, that was another eye-opening glimpse into your life," the Doctor muttered to her as they walked towards the front doors.

"Yup. It's a never ending laugh riot around here," she quipped as the Doctor chuckled.

"Well, tonight you can relax and take it easy and have a calm, quiet, restful night out with me," he said, patting her on the shoulder.

"Thanks, I need something like that."

"Yeah, after seeing what I've seen, I don't doubt that for one second, Raven," he said as they went through some double doors and headed back up to the front.

The Doctor waited calmly behind Raven while she signed out in the log book. Then waving goodbye to the woman manning the front desk, she and the Doctor stepped through the doors and left the building.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

"Freeeeee!" the Doctor said as Raven laughed. "Blimey, I've been in dungeons pleasanter than that. I meant what I said about why are you still sane? That would test the patience of any person."

"Yeah and to be honest, I probably wouldn't be friends with any of those people outside of the Salvation Army, except maybe Sharita, but when you're in that kind of situation, you have to put up with whoever is assigned to your room."

"Well, I commend you on your nerves of steel because that's what it takes to endure that sort of thing day after day," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, tell me about it."

As they walked away from the buildings, they noticed a white man dressed in old jeans and a battered green winter coat coming the other way from the other side of the street. He stopped and stared at Raven.

"Hey! You live here?"

Raven ignored him and walked on.

"What's your name, Baby?" he called to her.

Raven didn't say anything.

"What's your name?" the man said more insistently.

"My name is I'm Not Interested In You!" Raven retored before heading away.

"Bitch," the man muttered as he stomped away.

She cast an apologetic look at the Doctor.

"Sorry, I know that was rude but most of the men round here think with their dicks and you pretty much know they're looking for sex if they start out by asking your name and frankly, I don't want any man to know my name around here and end up having stalkers."

"I understand. Single woman like yourself, it's best to be cautious."

"Well, I don't like doing that. I'm a nice person and I hate being rude like that but you try to be friendly to these men and they're suddenly all over ya, wanting to take you somewhere so you can bang em. I've had plenty of offers from men; a couple of them wanted me to screw them for bus fare when they saw me out walking alone. I'm many things but I'm not a two dollar whore. I respect my body more than that."

"Good, I'm glad," the Doctor said, patting her on the shoulder.

They walked along while they chatted. The sun had set and the pavement was lit by orange streetlamps. Up ahead of them, the Doctor could see a house that had Christmas decorations on the porch and in the yard. Colored lights were on the porch and there were lighted candy canes and two inflatable fabric animals, an elephant wearing a Santa hat and three penguins who were sitting around a green fish that was poking up through a hole in the ice. The fish had a green string that was being held by one of the penguins who was slowly rotating back and forth. The two of them stopped to admire it.

"Aw, how cute," the Doctor said, stepping closer to the penguins for a better look. "That one that's rotating is fishing for the fish. Awwww!"

Raven giggled at that.

"I like the elephant too."

"Yeah, so do I. I like elephants, they're intelligent creatures," he said to her.

They walked on back towards the apartment complex. On the way there, Raven noticed the Doctor slowing down. She stopped with him and saw him staring at the Motor City Casino off in the distance. The casino was several stories high and on the front of it were several rows of streaking lights that changed colors in different patterns.

"Oh yeah," Raven said, guessing what he was looking at. "That's always like that but you can only see the colored lights after dark."

"I love it," the Doctor said watching as solid blue light turned into streaking rainbow colors.

"Yeah, it's kinda ironic though that it's right near the slummy area."

"It is?" the Doctor said.

"Yeah, the NSO is only about four blocks away. You can see it clearly from there."

"What's the NSO? Another homeless shelter?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah…sorta, they call it a warming center though. It doesn't have any beds, you have to sleep sitting up in hard plastic and metal chairs all night."

She shrugged when she saw the Doctor's horrified expression.

"It's not that bad," she said. "It took awhile but I got used to it."

"What? You were in there as well?"

"Yeah, I was in there for about two months until a spot opened up at the Salvation Army," she said matter of factly. "It's a dump though. You thought the Salvation Army was dreary, the NSO is a cinderblock building and the toilets have no doors on the stalls or no curtains on the shower. You have to pee and take a shower in full view of everyone and…"

She trailed off when the Doctor suddenly took her into his arms and gave her a big hug.

"What's this for?" Raven asked confused.

"Because you need it, you deserve it," he said, hugging her tightly. "You been through so much and you just take it all in stride. I've been debating for awhile now and this tears it. Raven, I'm taking you someplace else, anywhere you wanna go I'll take you. You don't belong here in this place, in this situation."

Raven was shocked as he took a step back from her.

"Seriously?" she said in disbelief.

"Raven, I can't in good conscience leave you here and go on, not when I can help you find something better. If there's somewhere you wanna go, I'll take ya and help you get settled in before leaving. But I want you gone from this place. You far too intelligent to be living in the slums like this."

Tears filled Raven's eyes.

"Thank you," she said softly as they resumed walking.

"Not all all, I want you gone from this place," the Doctor said. "Is there anywhere in particular you would like me to take you?"

"Well, um…I'd love to go to England and live in London."

"Really? Why?"

"Just always loved England and I thought living in London would be fun," she said, shrugging.

"It is, it's a very interesting, cosmopolitan city and I think you would enjoy it. If that's where you wanna go, I'll take you there and help you find a flat so you're not out on the streets."

"Thank you!" Raven said.

The Doctor smiled and hugged her when she gave him another hug.

"You're very welcome, my little mate, always happy to assist others in need. It's my life's work," he said happily as they broke apart and continued walking again. "So now that we have a final destination for you in mind, where would you like to spend the evening? We can stay here or we can take my TARDIS and find someplace else, anywhere in time and space, take your pick."

"Wow, um…let me think about that for a minute then. I'd like to get out of Detroit though, that's for sure."

"Take your time. We still have a long walk back to my TARDIS," the Doctor said cheerfully.

As they were passing by a barren field, Raven glanced out at it and slowed when she saw someone lying in it about forty feet away.

"Poor guy, I don't think I'd wanna spend the night sleeping on a bunch of dirt and rocks like that," she said to the Doctor.

The Doctor glanced at her and then stopped and looked where she was pointing.

"Yeah, I agree. Say, you don't mind having a third person accompany us tonight, do ya?" he asked her.

"No, I think he'd be thrilled to come with us," Raven replied.

"Come on then, at the very least I'll try to come up with enough money to rent a hotel room for him for the night so he's out of the cold," the Doctor said as she and him stepped off the pavement into the field.

But as they drew closer to him, the Doctor suddenly had a bad feeling about the situation. He began to think that perhaps the man wasn't sleeping but was hurt. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a tiny flashlight and turned it on as they neared him.

"Sir?" Raven said as they walked over to the black man lying on his right side in the field. "Don't be scared, we're here to help you."

She walked around to the other side with the Doctor and gasped when the Doctor shined his flashlight on his face. His eyes were opened and glazed and he was gasping heavily. The Doctor bent down and examined him. His dark skin was cool and clammy to the touch.

"Can you hear me?" the Doctor said to him. "Are you alright?"

"Help…me," the man gasped out.

"We will," the Doctor assured him as Raven bent down beside him. "What's your name?"

"C…Carl."

"Carl, I'm the Doctor and this is Raven. What happened to you?"

"A…attacked," Carl gasped out.

"Attacked by who?" the Doctor said.

"Woman…she tricked me…led me away…"

"Where?" the Doctor said.

Carl began gasping again and the Doctor glanced at Raven.

"I don't have a cell phone," she said.

"I do but it's in the TARDIS. I don't really use it, a friend of mine gave it to me."

Raven looked around and pointed to an apartment complex across the road from them.

"I'll go over there and see if someone will call 911," she said.

"Great. I'll stay here with Carl and look after him."

Raven nodded. She got up and sprinted away as the Doctor stood up and pulled his stethoscope out of his pocket. He unzipped Carl's coat and listened to his heartbeat. He noticed it was erratic and he could barely hear it. He guessed that Carl was dying and he didn't have much time. He leaned over as he heard Raven pounding on a door in the distance.

"Carl," he said loudly trying to get the dying man to focus on him. "Carl, I need you to try and keep awake, stay with me until the ambulance comes, okay?"

"I'll…try…" Carl muttered.

"You said a woman attacked you, what did she look like, what was her name?" the Doctor said urgently.

He heard voices and glanced up briefly as Raven came running across the field with a black man and black woman. Both the man and woman were in the late twenties and had on blue jeans. The man had on a forest green winter coat and the woman had on a lavender winter coat. The man had short dark curly hair, a thin face with a full beard and the woman had a heart shaped face and was wearing a lavender knitted wool cap. The man was talking on a mobile phone while they were running towards him.

"Doctor, this is Trent and his wife, Sophie," Raven said when they reached him.

"Nice to meet you both," he said as Trent knelt down beside Carl.

"Hold on, man, we're gettin' ya help," Trent said before he resumed his conversation with the 911 operator.

"Doc…tor," Carl gasped.

"We're gettin' ya one, man, we're gonna get ya to the hospital so you can see a doctor," Trent said.

"I think he means me actually," the Doctor said to him before leaning down closer to him. "Yes, Carl?"

"Woman's name…Elena…" Carl said weakly.

"Elena, can you tell us what she looked like?"

"Russian, white woman, brown hair, pretty."

"What did she do to you?" Raven asked him.

"Bit…me…"

"Bit you?" Sophie said, frowning.

The Doctor began checking for bite marks.

"Bit you where, Carl?" the Doctor asked him.

"Wrist, left…wrist…" Carl gasped.

The Doctor gently took his left arm and pulled up his coat sleeve while Raven shined the flashlight on it. They noticed two tiny puncture wounds directly over his vein. Sophie and Trent leaned in to take a look.

"That can't be what it looks like," Trent said to the Doctor.

"What do you think it is?" the Doctor said.

"Like vampire bite marks, like you see in the movies," Trent said. "Can't be though, no such thing as vampires."

The Doctor was about to say something to him when suddenly Carl began to let out a series of loud gasps, trying to take air into his lungs. The Doctor watched helplessly as the man finally gasped his last and he became still as his eyes gazed unseeingly at him.

"Oh God," Sophie said.

"Ma'am," Trent said in the mobile, "the man just died."

Raven put her hand on the Doctor's shoulder when he leaned back up and his eyes closed in anguish. The four of them waited around until the police and the ambulance finally showed up. The police took witness statements from all of them and then thanked them and told them they could go. The Doctor and Raven thanked Trent and Sophie and headed out of the field while the husband and wife went back to their apartment.

"If you don't wanna go out to eat after that happened, it's okay," Raven said as they headed towards the TARDIS.

He smiled at her.

"No, It's alright, we can still go but after seeing what happened to Carl, I believe I'm going to be sticking around Detroit for awhile longer now," he replied.

As they walked away from the field, they failed to notice a tall Caucasian woman with long brown hair who was hiding up in a nearby tree. She watched them for a few minutes and then silently jumped down to the ground and began to follow them.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

The Doctor and Raven walked silently down Woodward Avenue towards the center of the city. While they walked, the Doctor glanced at his friend and noticed she was very quiet. He kept glancing at her until he finally decided to speak to her.

"Penny for your thoughts," he said to her.

"What Carl said…" Raven said. "Vampires. You don't think he was being serious, do ya?"

"Do you?" the Doctor asked her.

"Well, I do believe in fairies and the little folks and I believe that everything has a spirit inside it so maybe vampires are possible. There certainly are enough bloodsuckers in this city," she said. "What about you? Do you believe?"

"I've met vampires before or vampire-like creatures. So yes, I do believe him. The bite marks looked like vampires' bite marks to me."

"So what are you going to do?" Raven asked.

"Up for a bit of detective work? See if we can find out something about our vampire?" the Doctor said.

"Sure."

"Follow me to the TARDIS then. We'll start by looking up some information."

Once they got inside the TARDIS, the Doctor closed the door and led Raven over to the console. He began typing in a search request.

"I'm gonna check to see if there is any history of vampire activity in the Motor City," he said to her as he typed.

He stopped typing and Raven stood by his side, watching while alien symbols flashed across the screen.

"Is that your writing? I mean the writing of your planet?" she said, pointing to it.

"Yes, it's Gallifreyan," he said to her.

"Cool," she replied.

The writing stopped and she saw something written in the alien writing. The Doctor read through it, scrolling down through the document before he finally faced her.

"According to this, there is a group of vampires in Detroit called Children of Darkness. Sort of an exclusive vampire club or so the legends claim."

"For real vampires or for posers who buy fake vampire fangs online?" Raven asked.

"Um, according to this, the real thing, although I'm sure there are some posers who hang out with them. According to this, they're a very old club, goes back all the way to the early 1800's."

"What do they do?" Raven asked.

"What vampires usually do, I expect. There are only legends about this group, nothing concrete. They're not even sure where they hang out, just that the group is based in Detroit."

"Detroit is hundreds of miles now, counting the suburbs," Raven said.

"True but this group was established back when Detroit was in its infancy so I'm guessing somewhere in the downtown area perhaps?"

"You mean like a members only club that only vampires can go to," Raven said.

"You've been here awhile, seen anything like that?"

Raven thought for a moment.

"Yeah, I think I know of one," Raven said. "I've passed by it several times and it never seems to be open. It says members only though."

"Where? What is it called?"

"Um…Club 25, I think. I've only given it a couple of glances since I had nothing to do with it but I think that's what it's called."

"Can you take me to it?"

"Yeah, come on, I know exactly where it is."

"Wait a tic, if there are vampires around, we need protection."

"What do you mean, crosses and holy water?"

"No, something more effective than that. Follow me."

He took her to the lab and showed her a perception filter. He explained what it was and how to use it. Raven was visibly impressed and took one from him. She slipped it on around her neck and the Doctor did the same before they headed back to the console room. Once they were outside, Raven led him towards the city center while the mysterious woman watched them from a nearby rooftop.

Elena was intrigued. The young woman was nothing special, just another mortal child who's blood smelled warm and inviting in the cold night air. But the man was something altogether different. He had a peculiar scent to him, something she couldn't place but she could sense was alien and that made her even more curious. Both of them had stepped out of the small box which also had a funny scent to it and walked down Woodward Avenue to downtown. Elena followed them, floating from rooftop to rooftop, keeping out of their line of sight but keeping them in sight at the same time. Since they stepped out of the box, there was something strange about them. She could see them but she had trouble keeping her focus on them, as if something was trying to cloud her eyes. She never had that happened to her before and it irritated her. It was if the two of them were trying to become wraiths in front of her and she was fighting to keep them from disappearing from her vision. Then the two of them crossed the street and hurried into an alley. Elena flitted to the roof directly across from them and she did a double take when she could no longer see them. Muttering a curse, she flew up into the darkness and over to the building across the road. She ran across it and looked down but she couldn't see them. To her shock, the two of them had vanished even though she could see for several blocks in every direction. She then realized that her becoming wraiths comparison was more apt than she realized. They had actually vanished without a trace. Her mouth formed a snarl as she began to sniff the air, trying to pick up the man's peculiar scent.

Meanwhile, Raven led the Doctor to a small dark club nestled in between two derelict high rise buildings. The club had no windows, just a brick building with one steel door that said Club 25, Members Only on a red plaque under a small viewing window that had a steel door over it. The whole building looked like it was decades old at least, there was trash around it and the bricks were faded making the steel door stand out even more. The building was two stories tall and was about fifty feet long. The Doctor walked into the alley beside it, examining the building while Raven watched him.

"Looks very secure," he said when he came back out of the alley a couple of minutes later. I've been around the back and there's a steel door in the back as well. So…they obviously want to keep non-members out. However, are the members of the club vampires or just really paranoid, snooty people?"

"How do we get in?" Raven asked.

"Ah, I have my own personal door key, my dear Raven," he said, pulling out his sonic screwdriver.

He walked up to the front door while Raven followed behind him. He aimed it at the lock, turned it on and heard a click. He put the screwdriver back in his pocket and put his finger to his lips while he very slowly pulled on the door handle and opened the door. The interior was dark and silent and the Doctor pulled a torch out of his pocket and clicked it on. He put his hand over the light, keeping it muted for the moment while Raven closed the door. Closing the door plunged them into complete darkness and the Doctor was reminded of an actual tomb, an apt analogy considering the place could be a hangout for vampires. He hesitated and then slowly took his hand away from the light and held it in front of him.

The interior was just as dark and spooky as the outside. The walls were wood paneling and the carpet was a deep blood red. Off to their left was a bar area with a wooden bar and stools in front of it. To their right was a huge dance floor that could be lit up from below but was currently off. Near the back were pool tables and a few arcade games and pinball machines. Near the back on their left side were twenty round wooden tables and wooden high back chairs. The Doctor aimed the light up and saw a disco ball above the dance floor. He swung it around and saw some NASCAR and Motown memorabilia on the walls along with some signs promoting different brands of beer hung on the back of the bar around a huge mirror. Around the mirror was shelves filled with different kinds of liquor. The Doctor didn't see any sign of life on the first floor but as they walked towards the bar, his light made out a doorway and he could see stairs going up.

"Well, so far it looks like an ordinary club to me," the Doctor muttered to Raven.

"I'm sorry if I made a mistake, when you said members only club this is the only one I could think of."

"Nah, nothing to be sorry about. I love poking my nose into things, especially things where I'm not a member," the Doctor said. "And we're not here to steal anything, just have a look around. Having said that, there is another floor and there could be something up there that has to do with vampires. This here, this club, could be the legitimate face of their group. Maybe the first floor is for the vampires. Think we should go investigate?"

"Yeah," Raven said.

"A girl after my own hearts," the Doctor said. "Okay, follow me, be quiet and be careful."


End file.
